
BRIG. GEN. HENRY W. WESSELLS. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



103d Regiment 

Pennsylvania Veteran 
Volunteer Infantry 

1861-1865 



By LUTHER S. DICKEY, 

Corporal of Company C, 

With Sergeant Samuel M. Evans as Collaborator. 



CHICAGO 

L. S. DICKEY 

1910 



) 



Original Copyright 

1910 by 

L. S. Dickey 



Reproduced by 

203 Pine Tract Road 

Butler, PA 16001 

724/287-2120 



o-lK^(. 



TN memory of the heroic dead 
of Casey's division who fell 
in advance of Seven Pines, and of 
the gallant comrades who suffered 
martyrdom in the Confederate 
Military Prisons of Andersonville 
and Florence to preserve the in- 
tegrity of the Union, this volume 
is most affectionately dedicated. 



Pittsburg, Pa., January 7, 1909. 

At a regularly called meeting of the One Hundred and Third 
Pennsylvania Regimental Association, held in Union Veteran Legion 
Hall. Pittsburg, Pa., January 4, 5 and 6, 1909, to consider the manu- 
script of the Regimental History in preparation under the auspices of 
the Association, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, the draft of manuscript of the Regimental History sub- 
mitted to the Regimental Association by Comrade L. S. Dickey, gives 
evidence of wide research and painstaking care in preparation, and 

Whereas, Comrade Dickey has demonstrated most satisfactorily 
by his work that he is thoroughly competent to prepare a trustworthy 
and authentic history of the Regiment, and that he also possesses the 
requisite zeal and enthusiasm in his work, essential to bring it to a 
successful completion, therefore be it 

Resolved, that the One Hundred and Third Pennsylvania Regi- 
mental Association most heartily approves the manuscript as presented, 
and does hereby authorize and instruct L. S. Dickey tq complete and 
publish the Regimental History without further delay along the lines 
indicated by him, and be it further 

Resolved, that it is the sense of the Regimental Association, that 
every surviving member of the One Hundred and Third Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the friends and relatives of deceased 
members thereof, should co-operate and assist Comrade Dickey in his 
laudable efTorts. to the end that a faithful record of the activities of 
the One Hundred and Third Regiment may be preserved to posterity. 
John A. Kelley. W. C. Mobley, 

Chairman. Secretary. 



PREFACE. 



\\'hen the writer accepted the honor as historian of his Regiment he had no 
reahzation of the task involved. After more than forty years since the final 
events of the Civil War, he expected to use the compilations of others who had 
carefully examined everything bearing on the most important events in which 
his Regiment had participated. Instead, however, of receiving assistance from 
this source he found the task made doubly difficult by the fact that most of the 
writers on these events have accepted the gossip of the camps, evidently with- 
out confirmation or research, even when censuring their comrades in arms. At- 
tention is called to this at some length in numerous extracts from historical nar- 
ratives and in a personal sketch. 

In the preparation of this work an earnest endeavor has been made to pre- 
sent ever}lhing pertaining to the Regiment which would be of interest to surviv- 
ing members, and care has been exercised to avoid undue exaggeration. In pre- 
paring the regimental narrative constant reference has been made to the diary of 
Sergt. S. M. Evans, the "Army Experience'' of Capt. John Donaghy, and the 
Official Reports of the War Department. Sergt. Evans kept a daily record 
of the events of the Regiment during the first three years of the war ; Capt. Don- 
aghy prepared his "'Army Experiences" from his diary a few years subsequent 
to the war, and any additions made were when his memory of the most vivid inci- 
dents must have been clear. The well known character of both gives assurance 
to their surviving comrades that any positive statement by either can be regarded 
as trustworthy. 

For the early history of the Regiment the correspondence filed in the archives 
of the State of Pennsylvania from the promoters, organizers and officers of the 
Regiment to the state officials have been carefully examined. So far as the com- 
pany and individual records are incomplete the writer asks to be absolved from 
blame. He has spent much time both at the capital of the state and the capital of 
the nation examining the official records and has presented here everything per- 
tinent to which he had access at either place. He is under special obligations to 
the Auditor for the War Department, B. F. Harper, and to Comrade S. E. Faunce. 
Chief of Records Division, in the Auditor's office, and to Hon. Thos. J. Stewart, 
Adjutant General of Pennsylvania, and his clerk, Comrade J. B. Stauflfer; to 
James C. Deininger, of the State Department ; also to the Commissioners of Pen- 
sion, Hon. Vespasian Warner and Hon. J. L. Davenport, for valuable and cour- 
teous serA'ice in an endeavor to complete the individual records of the members 
of the Regiment. 

The writer is under obligations to so many for cheerful and helpful aid in 
the preparation of this work, that it may be unjust discrimination to make personal 
acknowledgment here without including all ; and yet not to mention some would be 
verging on ingratitude. Among those who have extended unusual courtesies and 
substantial assistance are Comrade Millard F. Bingham (12th New York Volun- 



vi PREFACE 

teers) whose choice selection of war literature in his extensive and well selected 
library was freely proffered ; Mr. Frank Pierce Hill, Chief Librarian, Brooklyn 
Public Library, who placed the Halliday Library at his disposal while being- cata- 
logiied; to the Secretary of the Athenaeum Library, Boston ; to the Chicag-o Public 
Library; especially to Miss Caroline L. Elliott, Reference Librarian, and Mr. 
Charles A. Larson. Assistant Reference Librarian, the great assistance rendered 
by them being invaluable. More than ordinary courtesies have been extended 
by the Pratt Institute Library. Brooklyn ; the Astor and Lenox Libraries. New 
York; the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Public 
Library; the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh and Allegheny: the State Library. 
Harrisburg; the Cleveland Public Library; the Case Library, Cleveland, and the 
Library of Congress, Washington, D. C, and to the Century Company, New York. 
The writer is under especial obligations to Hon. Walter Clark. Chief Jus- 
tice of North Carolina; to the Adjutant General of Connecticut; to Comrade 
George O. Whitney (i6th Conn. Vols.). Hartford; to two daughters of the Con- 
federacy. Drs. Florence Leigh-Jones and Elizabeth J. Hatton, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; 
both of whom suffered the privations of the Civil War in their childhood ; the 
former in Charleston during the bombardment, while her father was serving in 
a Palmetto regiment; the latter in Georgia, while her father, (who was a per- 
sonal friend of Dr. Isaiah White. Chief Surgeon of Andersonville ^Military 
Prison) was serving as a surgeon in a Georgia regiment. Substantial aid and 
cheerful assistance has also come from Mr. Charles H. Ingersoll. South Orange, 
N. J. ; from Thomas Lynch, Esq.. Greensburg. Pa. ; and from Comrades John A>.. 
Kelley. Baptist H. Scott, Thomas Hays and Norval D. Goe. 

With few exceptions no Pennsylvania regiments have records less complete 
than the One Hundred and Third. Its regimental and company records were twice 
completely lost in battle, and under circumstances that made it impossible to have 
them fully replaced. The writer has spared no pains to get authentic histories 
of the various companies of the Regiment by correspondence with surviving mem- 
bers, writing to every one whose address he had. 

In addition to the chronological narrative, the company histories, and the 
roster which embraces every name in the ten original companies, and also the 
eight unassigned companies which came to the Regiment a few weeks before it 
was mustered out. three comprehensive articles (one critical) are presented 
namely: "Casey's Division at the Battle of Seven Pines," "■'The Battle of Plym- 
outh," and "Life in Andersonville and Florence Confederate Military Prisons," 
It is necessary to cover these three events comprehensively to give a complete his- 
tory of the Regiment. The company sketches embrace some things already cov- 
ered in the regimental narrative, and some personal notes are made that may not 
be of general interest, e.xcept to surviving members and friends of that particu- 
lar com.pany. The personal reminiscences that comrades have sent have been 
carefully read, and as nearly all of them were of a similar nature, and covered the 
same grounds, or the main features were already narrated in the regimental narra- 
tive, they have been used to amplify the company sketches. As Capt. ^.Lickey 
was the only one of the original company commanders to retain that position, 
and to be constantlv and continuouslv with the Resriment from the time it went 



PREFACE vii 

to the front until it was captured, his daily record of events in Confederate prisons 
is published without amplification, elimination, or editorial revision. The fact 
that these events were not recorded for publication makes them the more inter- 
esting. It may be said that many little personal details in his diary might have 
been omitted ; this may be true ; but the writer thinks the reader can readily cull 
all the essential matter. 

The aspersion cast on Casey's division, in the first dispatch from the com- 
manding general to the Secretary of War, announcing the battle of Fair Oaks 
was finally shifted in his official report to two brigades of the division, especially 
robbing the Regiment's brigade of its heroic defense of the intrenchments, and 
giving the credit to a brigade commanded by a favorite of the commanding gen- 
eral. It is especially fitting that Casey's division be vindicated in the history of 
the One Hundred and Third Regiment, as this Regiment was an integral part of 
his division until it was separated into other commands. One of the principal 
reflections upon this division in the histories of the battle of Fair Oaks is that it 
was taken by surprise. This reflects especially upon its pickets and their supports. 
As it Avas the commanding officer of the pickets from the Regiment who apprised 
Gen. Casey of the presence of a large body of the enemy in front of the division, 
and as it was the Regiment that opened the battle, and was the first regiment of 
the division to be routed, it is especially appropriate and essential that the truth 
as to the whole matter should appear with a history of the Regiment. The dead 
and maimed of the Regiment who fell in the battle of Fair Oaks and also all those 
t\^ho did their full duty must be vindicated. 

In criticising those responsible for the injustice done to Casey's division no 
statement has been made that is not substantiated by the official records. The 
evidence presented is not one-sided, but an earnest effort has been made to pre- 
sent everything pertaining to the subject, and if possible find some extenuating 
circumstances for those culpable. Justice to the dead, who can only reply through 
the official records, made this obligatory. 

The capture of the Regiment at Plymouth makes it necessary to give a de- 
tailed account of the battle in order to show whether the Regiment was in any 
measure responsible for the capitulation of the garrison, or if the proper resist- 
ance was made even when there was no hope of succor. 

The long confinement of nine companies of the Regiment at Andersonville 
and Florence, and the terrible mortality in those pestilential spots make it im- 
perative to tell the repulsive stor}' in this volume. The evidence presented here, 
is chiefly the official reports of the Confederate surgeons and inspector generals 
to the Confederate authorities. These reports give evidence of having been writ- 
ten by men of humane impulses, who had no motive for exaggerating the 
horrible conditions prevailing there. Reference is made to prison life with no 
intention to reflect on the Southern people or the Confederate authorities. It is 
necessarily a part of the ston.^ of the 103d Regiment, in order that posterity may 
know how much it is indebted to this organization for the heritage of a free Re- 
public. The evidence presented here proves beyond question that the Federal 
authorities could have readily exchanged prisoners, when the suffering and mor- 
tality was the most appalling at Andersonville and Florence prisons, without 



viii PREFACE 

relinquishing any just position they had been contending for, and without any 
further jeopardy to the officers and enhsted men of negro regiments ; the evidence 
proves conclusively that the exchange was not made, because an exchange at 
that time would have imperiled the safety of both armies, under Grant and Sher- 
man. 

Although severe criticisms have been made in this volume, and expressions 
made that may seem vituperative, they have been honestly made, and the writer 
believes, truthfully made. The "midnight oil" has burned many weeks in an 
earnest, sincere desire to find evidence in extenuation of the action of the men 
criticised. And although with a full knowledge of the grievous wrong done to 
his division and to the comrades who sealed their devotion to the Nation by giving 
their lives in advance of Seven Pines, not a line has been written in malice, or 
even with animus. What is written is now beyond recall. But, as the writer 
reviews his words, calmly and dispassionately, as they appear in print before 
him — the words in criticism of those who wronged his division and his dead 
comrades — he sees nothing to modify ; nothing to qualify ; nothing to retract. 
And these last words are written under the influence — the spell — of those won- 
derful sentences of the greatest character evolved by the Civil War. written and 
uttered, when the fate of the nation was yet trembling in the balance : words that 
are imperishable, and that should forever silence those who would engender sec- 
tional strife, and those who take delight in continuously harping over the wrongs 
perpetrated by some of the people of the South during the days of the Civil War 

Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than 
let it [the Union] perish, and war came. Neither party expected the magnitude 
or duration which it has attained ; neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict 
might cease even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an 
easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astonishing. Both read the 
same Bible and prayed to the same God. Each invoked his aid against the other. 
It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in 
wringing bread from the sweat of any other men's faces : but let us judge not, 
that we be not judged. The prayer of both should not be answered: that of 
neither has been answered fully for the Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe 
unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offense come ; but 
woe unto that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose American 
slavery one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, 
but which, having continued through His appointed time. He now wills to re- 
move, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, as was due to 
those by whom the offense came, shall we discern that there is any departure 
from those divine attributes which believers in the living God always ascribe to 
him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of 
war may speedily pass away; yet if it be God's will that it continue until the 
wealth piled by bondsmen by two hundred and fifty years' unrequited toil shall be 
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must 
be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. With 
malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives 
us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the 
nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting- 
peace among ourselves and with all nations. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Camp Orr— Kittanning— The Organization of the Regiment 1 

(From August, 1861 to Febraury 24, 1862.) 

CHAPTER II. 

From Kittanning to Yorktown 6 

(From February 24, to May 4, 1862.) 

CHAPTER III. 

The Battle of Williamsburg 10 

(From May 4, to May 7, 1862.) 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks 13 

(From May 7, to June 7, 1862.) 

CHAPTER V. 

The Seven Days" Battles— From White Oak Swamp to Harrison's Landing 22 

(From June 4, to July 31, 1862.) 

CHAPTER VI. 

From Harrison's Landing to Suffolk— Blackwater Reconnoissances 30 

(From July 31, to December 4, 1862.) 

CHAPTER VII. 

From Suffolk to New Bern— Battles of Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro 34 

(From December 4, to December 28, 1862.) 

CHAPTER VIII. 

New Bern— Hyde County Raid 41 

(From December 28, 1862, to March 13, 1863.) 

CHAPTER IX. 

New Bern— Spinola Expedition — Reconnaissance to Washington, N. C 45 

(From March 13, 1863, to May 2, 1863.) 

CHAPTER X. 

From New Bern to Plymouth — Reconnaissances to Jamesville, Williamston, Edenton. 

Windsor, etc 47 

(From May 2, 1863, to January- 31, 1864.) 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XI. 

Garrison Life at Plymouth as Seen by Capt. Donaghy and Corp. Rupert 52 

(From May 2, 1863, to April 17, 1864.) 

CHAPTER Xn. 

The Battle and Capture of Plymouth 59 

(From April 17, to April 20, 1864.) 

CHAPTER Xin. 

From Plymouth to Andersonville Military Prison 61 

(From April 20, to May 2, 1864.) 

CHAPTER XIV. 

From the Capture of the Regiment to the Final Discharge 64 

(From April 20, 1864, to July 13, 1865.) 

SKETCHES AND REMINISCENCES. 

Field and Staff 67 

Company A 75 

Company B 77 

Company C 79 

Company D 85 

Company E 86 

Company F 88 

Company G 91 

Company H 92 

Company 1 94 

Sketch of Corp. John A. Kelly— The Youngest Member of Co. 1 101 

Company K 102 

PRISON SKETCHES. 

By Private R. P. Black (Co. E.) 104 

By Corp. R. J. Thompson— Color-bearer of the Regiment 106 

PRISON ESCAPE. 

Capt. Alvin H. Alexander and Lieut. Wm. H. H. Kiester 107 

Corp. Robert R. Reardon, Privates Peter Klingler, Samuel Rupert and Daniel Huddle- 
son (Co. H.), and Sergt. Daniel Krug (Co. K.) 108 

Nerval D. Goe, John F. Rupert, Reed G. Beggs and James S. Cooper (Co. A.) 110 

Capt. John Donaghy, Lieut. David M. Spence and Lieut. Robert R. Bryson Ill 

Lieutenants Alfred L. Fluke, John M. Laughlin and Capt. Donaghy 115 

PERSONAL SKETCHES. 

Color-bearer Robert J. Thompson 118 

Hon. Thomas Hays 119 

PLYMOUTH RECAPTURED. 
The Most Daring Exploit of the War— Lieut. William Barker Gushing 120 

REPUBLISHED DIARY. 
Diary of Marches of Wessells Brigade — Author Unknown 122 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi 

ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

Dedication of the Monument Erected by the State of Pennsylvania in the National 

Cemeterj', Andersonville, Ga 130 

AN EXTRANEOUS CHAPTER. 
A Personal Sketch by the Author Touching on Events in Which He Was an Active 

Participant ^^^ 

THE BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES. 

A Foreword 

Casey's Division at the Battle of Seven Pines 14o 

Extracts from the Report and Testimony of Gen. McClellan 156 

Report and Testimony of Gen. Heintzelman 158 

Report and Testimony of Gen. Keyes 160 

Report and Testimony of Gen. Casey 163 

Report of Gen. Wessells 166 

Report of Maj. Gozzam 16' 

Report of Gen. Naglee 16 ' 

Report of Col. Davis (104th Penna. Regt.) 169 

Report of Col. Plaisted (11th Maine Regt.) 170 

Report of Gen. Palmer (Third Brigade) 1*^0 

Report of Capt. Raulston (81st N. Y. Regt.) 171 

Report of Col. Belknap (8oth N. Y. Regt.) 172 

Report of Lieut. Col Durkee (98th N. Y. Regt.) 172 

Report of Capt. Regan (7th N. Y. Battery) 172 

Reports of Couch's Division (Keyes' Corps) 173 

Reports of Kearny's Division (Heintzelman's Corps) 175 

Reports of Gen. Hooker's Division (Heintzelman's Corps) 177 

Report and Testimony of Gen. Sumner 181 

Reports of Gen. Sedgwick's Division (Sumner's Corps) 182 

Reports of Gen. Richardson's Division (Sumner's Corps) 184 

Dispatches of Gen. McQellan 1°" 

• 1 no 

Gen. Hemtzelman ^^^ 

Excerpts from Confederate Reports 202 

Major General Silas Casey 234 

Newspaper Comments on Casey's Division 236 

Criticisms in Histories '^^^ 

Regimental Histories ^** 

Favorable Comments ^^^ 

Confederate Comments on the Battle of Seven Pines 248 

BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 
A Detailed Description of the Battle from the First Attack Until the Garrison 

Surrendered 255 

Lieutenant-Commander Charles W. Flusser 270 

Brigadier-General Henry W. Wessells 272 

Gen. Wessells' Report of the Battle 275 

LIFE IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 

The Point of View 280 

A Graphic Description of Conditions in Andersonville Prison 281 

Appeals Made to the Federal Authorities for an Exchange 284 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Why the Exchange Was Not Made 287 

Official Reports of Confederate Surgeons, Inspector-Generals, etc., of Conditions at 

.■Vndersonville Prison 289 

Official Report of Interments in the National Cemetery at Andersonville 302 

Confederate Official Reports on Conditions at Florence Military Prison 303 

Appeal for an Exchange by Gen. Wessells and Others 307 

THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REUNION. 

Reunion of the 101st and 103d Regimental Associations at Foxburg, Pa 308 

Address of Welcome by Joseph M. Fox 309 

Members Present 310 

Regimental Badge 313 

DL\RY OF MAJ. MACKEY. 

A Daily Record From Jan. 1. 1864, to March 14, 1865 — Embracing More than 10 

Months of Life in Confederate Prisons 314 

OFFIQAL REPORTS. 

Battle of Williamsburg 341 

Seven Days Battles 343 

Goldsboro Expedition 345 

Hyde County Raid 350 

Spinola Expedition 352 

Elxpeditions from Plymouth 356 

Regimental Roster 361 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells Frontispiece 

Col. Theo. F. Lehmann, and Group of 15 Officers 1 

Lieut. Col. W. C. Maxwell. Maj. A. W. Gazzam, Quar. Mas. O. R. McNary, Capt. E. G. 

Cratty, Capt. T. A. Cochran, Lieut. Z. M Cline and Sergt. Maj. W. C. Mobley 6 

Maj. J. F. Mackey, Adjt. Wm. H. Irwin, Capt. F. Smullin, Lieut. S. D. Burns and 

Lieut. W. B. Kroesen 10 

Capt. R. Laughlin, Capt. A. H. Alexander, Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester, Lieut. J. M. Laugh- 

lin, Lieut. O. McCall. Corp. John A. Kelley, Corp. Thos. Hays and Priv. S. Kelley. 13 
Capt. S. P. Townsend, Capt. A. Fahnestock, Lieut. B. H. Scott, 1st Sergt. W. S. Cochran, 

Sergt. R. M. Dunn, Sergt. S. M. Evans, Corp. G. W. Pifer and Corp. L. S. 

Dickey 22 

Capt. J. Donaghy, Lieut. J. H. Chambers, Capts. Donaghy and Fahnestock, Sergt. J. H. 

White, Priv. T. G. Sloan, Sutler A. Krebs and C. L. Straub 30 

Reunion Group — Companies A, F, D. and 1 34 

Reunion Group — Companies B, E, and K 41 

Reunion Group — Companies C and H 45 

Map of North Carolina Coast 47 

Map of Country West of Plymouth 52 

Map of Roanoke Island 64 

Pennsylvania Monument, National Cemetery, Andersonville, Ga., 1st Sergt. J. F. Shields, 

Corp. J. S. Cooper and Corp. G. W. K. Stover 75 

Company B's Flag, Mrs. Thomas Hays, and Conrad Petsinger 79 

Capt. John M. Cochran; Privates Geo. W. Cochran, Wm. W. Cochran, L. H. Slagle and 

Corp. J. F. Rupert 82 

Sergt. J. S. Hodil, Sergt. J. S. Moorhead, Corp. R. J. Thompson: Privates John Adams, 

and J. D. Taggart 91 

Corp. John A. Kelley, Maj. John E. Kelley, Sergt. Maj. Nerval D. Goe and Hon. 

Thomas Hays !•! 

Donaghy, Spence and Bryson Escaping from Prison Ill 

Commander William Barker Gushing 120 

Barracks of Co. C, near Fort Reno, Roanoke Island ; Sergt. J. A. Gwinn and Corp. 

Thomas J. McKee 124 

Pennsylvania Monument, Andersonville National Cemetery 130 

Capt. John Donaghy, Lieut. B. H. Scott. Sergt. S. M. Evans, and Corp. L. S. Dickey ... .135 

Group from War Photographs 142 

Major General Silas Casey 145 

Map of Seven Pines — Century War Series, No. 1 158 



xiv MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Map of Seven Pines — Century War Series No. 2 166 

Map of Seven Pines, by Capt. John Donaghy 174 

Burying the Dead at the Twin Houses 182 

The Twin Farm Houses, two Views 190 

Map of Plymouth and Defenses 256 

Group of Confederate Officers 266 

Lieut. Com. C. W. Flusser — The Confederate ram "Albemarle" 270 

Plan of Anderscnville Military Prison 280 

National Cemetery, Andersonville, Ga., View No. 1 288 

National Cemetery, Andersonville, View No. 2 292 

Providence Spring, Andersonville, Ga 300 

Reunion Group, Foxburg, Pa., Sept. 16, 1909 310 

Map of- North Carolina Inside Back Cover 




Col. Theodore F. Lehmann. 




1. Lieui. J. M. Alexander (Co. H). 

J. Lieut. '^A". H. H. Kiester (Co. I). 

3. Lieut. G. K. M. Crawford (Co. 

4. Lieut. R. R. Bry.<;on (Co. E). 
.". Capt. John M. Cochran (Co. C). 
C'. C?pt. John Stuchell (Co. G;. 

7. Lieut. A. L. Fluke (Co. D). 



S. Lieut. Col. \V. C. Maxwell. 

•I. Capt. Josiah Zink (Co. F). 

10. Capt. E. G. Crattv (Co. E). 

11. Capt. T. A. Cochran (Co. C). 
]L'. Surg. J. Q. A. Meredith. 

13. Capt. Jas. J. Morrow (Co. G). 

1-1. Lieut. G. AV. Stoke (Co. D). 

1.-. Capt. D. L. Coe (Co.- B). 



The One Hundred and Third Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. 

A Chronological Historical Narrative from the Organization of the Regi= 

ment in 1861 Until it was Mustered 

Out in 1865. 



CHAPTER I. 

Camp Orr — Kittaxning — The Organization of the Regiment. 

(From August, i86i, to Februar}- 24, 1862.) 

The 103d Regiment, Penna. Volunteer Infantr}', was recruited from the 
counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, Mercer, Venango and 
Westmoreland. Its rank and file were typical representatives of the citizenship 
of Western Penna. Seventy-five per cent of its membership, at least, were bom 
and reared in the counties from which they enlisted, although in every company 
there were some who were natives of Erin and Germany. They came from every 
walk of life, the farmer and mechanic, the common laborer and clerk, the teacher 
and pupil, all being represented. Many of them had lived in ignorance of the 
world outside of their home and adjoining counties, except as they had acquired 
knowledge from the weekly newspaper and books. Some of them, before their 
arrival at the rendezvous camp, had never seen a locomotive or train of cars. 
In age and physique the great body of the Regiment met all the requisites for mili- 
tary service. In every company there were a few representing the extremes in 
age — some old enough to be exempt from military duty, while at the other extreme 
there was a number of boys, varying in age from fourteen to eighteen — but, on 
the whole, the average age was about twenty-three years. Physically and morally 
they left their homes with all the qualities necessary to make ideal soldiers. They 
represented, at least, the average citizenship of the communities from which they 
came in intelligence, moral qualities and religious consecration. Every company 
had representatives of the Catholic Church, while the various Protestant denomina- 
tions of Western Penna. were represented by men who at the time of enlistment 
held official relations, such as elder, deacon, trustee, class leader or theological 
student. In the rendezvous camp, and for a time after the Regiment joined the 
Army of the Potomac, evening worship was conducted in some companies by men 
holding official relations with their churches at home. The Regiment was recruited 
during the autumn months of 1861, rendezvousing at Camp Orr, Kittanning, Arm- 
strong County, Penna. 

The recruiting of the 103d covered several months and was made under no 
formal call. Following the surrender of Fort Sumter, April 13, 1861, the patriot- 
ism of the loyal people was aroused to the highest pitch and an intensely warlike 
spirit was kindled all over the North. On April 15, President Lincoln issued a 
call for 75,000 men to serve three months, and such a universal desire to enter the 
sers'ice of the Government had been manifested that more offers of men were 
made than could be accepted. On May 3, 1861, the President made a call for 39 
regiments of infantry and one of cavalry for three years unless sooner discharged. 
Before July 1st this call was more than filled, 71 regiments of volunteer infantry, 
one regiment of volunteer heavy artillery and ten batteries of volunteer light 



2 103D PENNSYLVAxNIA REGIMENT 

artillery having- been accepted and mustered into the service. This call was 
legalized during the extra session of Congress convened July 4, 1861, and the 
President was authorized to accept the services of volunteers either as cavalry, 
infantry or artillery in such numbers, not exceeding 500,000 men, as he might 
deem necessary for the purpose of repelling invasion and suppressing insurrection, 
and directing that the volunteers thus accepted should serve for not exceeding 
three years nor less than six months. These acts of Congress were published in 
general orders from the Adjutant-General's ofHce. The people responded so 
readily and enthusiastically to the appeals of Congress and the executive that no 
formal call was issued. It was under this act that the State of Pennsylvania was 
recruiting regiments by the authority of the War Department during the fall and 
winter of 1861. Very few of the enlistments to the 103d were made under the 
excitement of "Public War Meetings." It was an almost every-day occurrence 
at Camp Orr for men to enter the grounds alone or in groups of two or three, 
take a survey of the camp, make inquiries of the men and officers, and arrange 
for a furlough before enlisting in order to return home to harvest the crops or 
complete some other line of work. 

Through the efforts of J. B. Finlay, of Kittanning, the Secretary of War 
authorized the selection of a rendezvous camp at or near Kittanning. As the 
organization of the 103d Regiment, as it was constituted, was in a large measure 
due to the activity and enterprise of Mr. Finlay, a brief sketch of him will be of 
interestest as well as relevant here. 

Col. John Borland Finlay was born in Moneyneagh, Ireland, Feby. 13, 1826. 
He was educated at the Classical Academy of Coleraine, Royal College of Belfast 
and the University of Leipzig, graduating from the latter place at the age of 20 
with the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. He emigrated to the U. S. in 1847. In 
1850 he was ordained as pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian church. On JVIarch 
20, 1856, he married the only daughter of James E. Brown, Esq., of Kittanning, 
and on the following June resigned his pastoral charge and on Oct. 15 was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and made his permanent residence at Kittanning. On motion 
of Hon. E. M. Stanton, in i860, he was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme 
Court of the U. S. Although Col. Finlay had the sanction of the Secretary of 
War and also of Gov. Curtin, in recruiting troops, there is no official record that 
he was commissioned, but the title of colonel was assumed by him and no one 
ever questioned his right to use it. Col. Finlay was not only a cultured gentleman 
and a forceful personality, but his alliance with James E. Brown at once gave him 
great prestige, for the latter was one of the wealthiest and most public spirited 
citizens of the State, and was held in the highest esteem by citizens of all classes. 
Mr. Brown was in thorough sympathy with Col. Finlay's patriotic work and per- 
mitted him to draw on his exchequer without limit. While Col. Finlay was an am- 
bitious personage and evidently aspired to military distinction he at no time gave 
evidence that he desired to take troops into the field. He was very active in re 
cruiting Capt. Beck's company, which joined the 62d and was also one of the most 
active spirits in recruiting and organizing the 78th Regiment, and responsible for 
having it rendezvous at Camp Orr. 

The site of the camp was then known as the Armstrong County Fair Grounds, 
situated about a mile north of the town limits, but now a residential part of the 
upper suburb of Kittanning. Several of the companies while recruiting rendez- 
voused at Camp Orr with the expectation of joining the 78th Regiment. The 
nucleus of the first company of the 103d to enter the rendezvous camp was Co 
A. recruited by Capt. Reynolds Laughlin, who arrived at Camp Orr on Aug. 30 
with fifteen men, most of whom were enlisted at Callensburg, Clarion County, 
quickly followed by the nucleus of Companies B, C and D. The Pittsburgh 
Dispatch, Sept. 28, i86r, reports among the companies rendezvousing at Camp 
Orr the Constitution Guards, Reynolds Laughlin ; Curry Rifles, G. W. Gillespie ; 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 3 

Howe Cadets, A. H. Fahnestock; Finlay Rifles, Joseph K. Hamilton; McClellan 
Guards, John M. Cochran. At this time the ten companies comprising the 78th 
Penna., and the James E. Brown Dragoons, Capt. J. W. Steele, subsequently 
attached to the 2d Penna. Cavalry (Co. M), were in Camp Orr; the former 
leaving for the seat of war Oct. 14, 1861. Two days after the departure of the 
78th the otticers of the 103d, then in camp, held a conference with Gov. J. B. 
Finlay, when it was agreed between the officers present and Col. Finlay, that the 
latter should have the right to nominate the colonel of the Regiment, subject, 
however, to confirmation by a majority vote of the officers of the Regiment. The 
lieutenant colonel and major were to be chosen from the other commissioned of- 
ficers of the Regiment and the other appointments were to be made in harmony 
with this agreement. Subsequently it was agreed upon between the officers of the 
Regiment and Col. Finlay to tender the colonelcy to Lieut. Col. Theodore F. Leh- 
mann, of the 62d Penn. Regiment, then in the Army of the Potomac. The tender 
was made as follows : 

Headquarters 103 Regiment, Penna. Vols., Camp Orr, 

Kittanning, Pa., 21 Oct., 1861. 
To Lieut. -Col. T. F. Lehmann, 62d Reeiment, Pa. Vols. 

Dear Sir: — You are herewith tendered the colonelcy of the 103d Resrtment now being 
recruited in Camp Orr under my care. It is not yet full, although sufficient companies are 
premised to fill it. The lieutenant colonel and major are to be selected by and from the other 
commissioned officers, the rest of the officers are to be appointed. Few appointments have been 
made — and whatever have been I would request you, on taking command, would confirm — and 
that all other appointments should be made after a mutual consultation between you and myself. 
If you deem It not too great a risk come on immediately and assume command. 

The regiment will increase if it is known that you are to drill its members. I have sent 
you a telegram and desire a reply. The regiment may or may not fill up to 1,000 men. This 
will much depend upon yourself. I believe Gov. Curtin will favor us and fill our number if 
required. Under all these circumstances judge for yourself. 

Very respectfully yours, 

J. B. FTNLAT, Colonel. 

About the same date Col. Finlay wrote to the war department saying it was 
the wish of the officers of the Regiment that Lieut. Col. Lehmann be appointed 
colonel of the 103d. The War Dept. replied to his communication as follows : 

If Gov. Curtin will commission Lieut. Col. Lehmann as colonel, he will be mustered out 
of his old regiment to accept promotion in the 103d Regiment. 

In the communication to Gov. Curtin asking for the transfer of LieuL Col. 
Lehmann, Col. Finlay says : 

Now, as Col. Lehmann is well known to many of our officers and greatly beloved by them, 
under him the regiment will grow to be a superior body of men. He is also my friend, having 
known him both in civil and military life to be a superior gentleman. Will you do me the honor 
of therefore granting him his commission as colonel of the 103d Regiment, Penna. Volunteers? 

Col. Lehmann severed his relations with the 62d Regiment and arrived at 
Camp Orr, Nov. 4. He received a hearty welcome from Col. Finlay and all the 
officers, and with the full sanction of all assumed command of the Regiment. In 
physique and deportment Col. Lehmann was superlatively the beau ideal of a 
military officer. With the prestige of not only having held a commission in the 
German army, but coming direct from the Army of the Potomac to assume com- 
mand, it was the unanimous opinion of both officers and men that the Regiment 
was peculiarly fortunate in the selection of its commanding officer. No officer 
assumed command of a regiment more propitiously than did Col. Lehmann when 
he took charge of the 103d. Whether he had a promise from Gov. Curtin that 
he would receive a commission as colonel of the 103d Regiment the record does 
not say. However, it is probable the terms of the tender of the command of the 
Regiment from Col. Finlay and the communication from the War Department, 
in which it was stipulated that his discharge from the 62d was conditioned on his 
receiving the promotion to the colonelcy of the 103d, made him feel it unnecessary 
to exact a promise from the Governor. When he assumed command of the 
Regiment he had received no commission but neither had the other officers of the 
Regiment. Col. Lehmann was by nature a dominating and arrogant spirit, and 
coming into supreme authority over a body of men, whose officers, with few 



4 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

exceptions, had little knowledge of military affairs, it was not long- until these 
dominating traits became apparent. He made subordinate appointments in an 
arbitrary manner without consulting Col. Finlay, from men outside of the 
Regiment, contrary to the terms in which the colonelcy of the Regiment had been 
tendered him. This naturally aroused the ire of Col. Finlay and some of the 
officers, and when a protest was made, he asserted his right to name whom he 
pleased without interference from any one, subject only to the approval of the 
Governor. On account of his military prestige many of the officers coincided with 
his views. This led to dissensions among the officers, and two factions were 
formed, one championing the cause of Col. Lehmann, and the other opposing him, 
led by Col. Finlay. 

Col. Finlay, not only assumed a fostering care over the Regiment after Col. 
Lehmann had taken command, but continued to sign his name as colonel com- 
manding, without protest from Col. Lehmann. During the second week of 
December the following articles appeared in a Kittanning paper: 

THE 103d REGIMENT P. V. 

The lOMd Regiment, now at Camp Orr, is filling its ranks rapidly. Col. Finlay has 
obtained for the men 1.000 blankets, thus rendering them very comfortable. He has also 
secured their other clothing — having sent Capt. G. W. Gillespie with his requisition therefor 
to Philadelphia. Having now entire uniform and equipments, there is every inducement 
offered to young men to enlist, as all recruits on coming into camp will be properly clothed 
and cared for. Shall patriotism not therefore call m.any more of our young men to the 
standard of the i03d Regiment? Col. Lehmann, the acting commander of the camp, is a 
gentleman of kind and urbane manners, and will act the part of a father to all under his care. 
Come then, fellow citizens, obey your country's call — sink or swim, live or die, survive or 
perish, arise. Let us be for our country now and forever. 

ORDETR. 

Headquarters 103d Regiment, 9th Dec. 1S61. 
All persons having furnished any article of subsistence, or wood. coal, lumber, medicines, 
medical aid, or any other necessary matter to, or having claims therefor against the 103d 
Regiment P. V., at Camp Orr, since the 14th of October, 1861, are hereby required to make 
out In duiilicate a verified account thereof, stating the articles furnished, when furnished, and 
the true value of the same, or the amount to be paid therefor, which must be filed for me 
with T. M. Laughlin, A. Q. M., of said regiment, on or before 3 o'clock P. M. of Thursday, the 
12th inst. And all other orders, by whomsoever issued, relative thereto, are hereby reversed 
and declared null and void. By order of J. B. Finlay, Colonel Commanding. 

On Dec. 14, Col. Finlay assumed control of the Regiment, notifying Col. 
Lehmann that he was a subordinate officer. On the following day a stormy 
meeting was held at headquarters in Camp Orr between the dual commanders in 
the presence of the line officers of the Regiment. From this time on these two 
men were implacable, irreconcilable foes. 

As if in anticipation of this rupture Col. Finlay wrote Gov. Curtin under 
date of Dec. 12, i86r, as follows: 

Having to assume the entire responsibility of subsisting this regiment as well as to 
provide and pay its recruiting expenses — no other person being responsible for one dollar 
thereof, and no other having contributed therefor, I therefore respectfully request that the 
chief command of the regiment shall continue to remain and be vested in me until the 
regiment is fully organized and ordered from this encampment. 

On Dec. 16, Col. Lehmann dispatched Dr. Staveley, Regimental surgeon, to 
Harrisburg to explain matters to Gov. Curtin, sending with him a written com- 
munication in which he referred to Col. Finlay in the following terms : 

His presumption and arrogance have assumed a shape that cannot be tolerated, and I 
wish to know whether your excellency has given to Col. Finlay any, or what authority, to inter- 
fere with or control my actions, as he alleges you have. Not wishing to disobey your order, 
I respectfully request that such authority, if it ever existed, be withdrawn, as I cannot submit 
to the orders of a civilian or person not mustered into the service of the U. S. 

Immediately following this rupture Gov. Curtin was petitioned by the re- 
spective factions of officers, one faction claiming "We cannot submit to the t>'ranny 
and abuse of Col. Lehmann," and asking for his removal and the appointment of 
another in his place, while the other faction declared : 

"We, officers and the soldiers, have learned to love Col Lehmann as a commander, as a 
friend, and a true gentleman to such extent that we feel we could not be led into the field 
of active service by any other man. . . . "We would therefore most earnestly pray your 
excellency to commission Col. T. F. Lehmann, if possible, at once and have the regiment moved 
to the field of active service. . . . 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 5 

The mission of Dr. Staveley resulted in a compromise by the Governor 
authorizing CoL Lehmann to command the Regiment and Col. Finlay to act as 
commander of Camp Orr ; all requisitions for subsistence of the Regiment were to 
be made by Col. Lehmann upon Col. Finlay as commander of the post. This 
settlement by the Governor, which in a measure, made Col. Lehmann subordinate 
to Col. Finlay, was galling to both, and while complying with the decisi'-j) of the 
Governor Col. Finlay, although the commander of the camp, refused to enter it, 
while Col. Lelimann remained with the Regiment. The latter, in order to become 
entirely free from the dominion of Col. Finlay, made strenuous efforts to have the 
Regiment moved to Camp Wright, in Allegheny County. The quarrel between 
Col. Finlay and Col. Lehmann had a most baneful effect on the Regiment, causing 
animosities that lasted until long after the Regiment had gone to the front. 

Notwithstanding Col. Finlay 's statement in his letter of Dec. 12 to Gov. 
Curtin, saying, that he had to assume the entire responsibility of subsisting the 
Regiment and to provide for its recruiting expenses — "no other person being re- 
sponsible for one dollar thereof, and no other having contributed therefor," the 
entire financial burden of this work virtually devolved upon James E. Brown, 
Esq., of Kittanning, the father-in-law of Col. Finlay. In a subsequent letter to 
Gov. Curtin, under date of Jan. 24, 1861, Col. Finlay admits this, saying: 

If, after sacrificing much valuable time — a large amount of money — contributed more to- 
wards promoting the welfare of the country and the vigorous prosecution of the war than 
perhaps was or is known in any other part of the state all my father-in-laws, in this noble 
cause and all my labors are to be overlooked, it will be rather a poor recompense, not that either 
of us desired any pecuniary reimbursement. . . . 

This unostentatious patriotic action of James E. Brown is highly illustrative 
of his character. As the 103d Regiment was largely indebted to him a brief 
sketch of his career will not only be interesting to the surviving members, but 
also relevant here. 

James E. Brown was born May 5, 1799, in Canoe Township, Indiana County, 
Penna. When a child he moved with his parents to Kittanning, Penna., during 
the first decade of the 19th century and died there Nov. 27, 1880, on the fifteenth 
anniversary of his second marriage. He was one of the most enterprising, suc- 
cessful business men of Western Penns3dvania and was the most prominent 
financier of Kittanning and the senior member of Brown and Musgrove, proprie- 
tors of Pine Creek Iron Furnace. 

The treatment accorded Col. Finlay and his esteemed father-in-law, James E. 
Brown, the parties most responsible for recruiting and organizing the 103d Regi- 
ment at Kittanning, had a tendency to arouse a spirit of indifference, if not 
resentment, towards the Regiment among the citizens of Kittanning, and from the 
time it left Camp Orr for active service, no apparent interest in its welfare was 
ever exhibited by them. This was most unfortunate, for the Regiment had no 
influential friends at home, and those who would have delighted to have looked 
after its welfare were forced to regard it with more or less antipathy. Even after 
its return, the surviving members, having a filial affection for their military alma 
mater, held their first reunion at Kittanning and met with a chilling reception from 
the citizens, and while on a subsequent occasion the annual regimental reunion 
was held there as a convenient point to reach for many of the comrades, the 
citizens of Kittanning manifested not half as much interest as they would have 
accorded to a company of militia on parade day in ante bellum times. Other 
communities have vied with each other to have these anniversary reunions, at 
times extending free entertainment, yet no request or interest has been evinced 
by the citizens of the town which did the most to recruit the Regiment. This is 
not referred to here in a complaining spirit, but merely to show that the most loyal 
people of Kittanning bore resentment for the treatment accorded to two of its 
most influential citizens. And yet until they have read the foregoing account of 
Col. Finlay's activity and Mr. Brown's generous contribution towards maintaining 



6 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the Regiment in its embry-otic days, few, if any, of the enlisted men were aware 
of their patriotism or generosity. When the break came between Col. Finlay and 
Col. Lehmann, the general understanding in the ranks was that Col. Finlay desired 
to take the Regiment into the field, and for that reason endeavored to supplant 
Col. Lehmann. 

Camp Orr was inclosed by a high, tight board fence, and no one was per- 
mitted to leave, night or day, without a pass issued from Regimental headquarters. 
However, by collusion with the guards, :t was very easy to get out after dark. 
The boys carried this to the extreme and a patrol was placed between the camp 
and town and many "daring experiences" occurred before confronting the enemy 
in the field. In one of these encounters the writer, much to his chagrin, was 
landed in the guard house, where he had to remain during the night, and listen 
to a serious lecture from his captain, when he was liberated before breakfast. 
None of the duties of camp were onerous, and the drill, guard mount, and dress 
parade served to break the monotony of camp life and "kill time," preventing the 
men from becoming dissatisfied through ennui. 

Before Col. Lehmann assumed command of the Regiment the daily routine 
of the men in camp was confined to squad and company drill, but under the new 
commander regimental drill and dress parade were added to the itinerary and 
both officers and men were of the opinion that they had an efificient drillmaster in 
the new commander. Uniforms were received early in December and the camp 
then assumed a martial appearance. 

On Saturday, Feb. 22d. the Regiment was marched to Kittanning and partici- 
pated in patriotic services, held in front of the Reynolds Hotel, in honor of the 
"Father of his Country." At this meeting arrangements were effected to add 
another company to the Regiment, which made its quota practically full. James 
F. Mackey. George W. Kelley and J. Milton Alexander, who had been actively 
engaged in recruiting a company in Clarion County for the 99th Penna. Regiment, 
were present, and being favorably impressed with the appearance of the 103d 
Regiment, decided to renounce allegiance to the 99th and cast their fortunes with 
a regiment already to proceed to the seat of war. An agreement was entered into 
between Messrs. Mackey, Kelley and Alexander and the officers of the 103d that 
the new company was to be assigned the position of Co. H, and would join the 
Regiment without delay. However, before they had time to get the company 
together, the nine companies in Camp Orr had started for Harrisburg. where 
Co. H, uniformed as zouaves (the uniform of the 99th Penna.), joined it at Camp 
Curtin a few days later. 

CHAPTER n. 

From Kittaxning to Yorktowx. 

(From February 24 to May 4, 1862.) 

At ten o'clock a. m., Monday, Feb. 24, 1S62, the Regiment left Camp Orr, 
marching through Kittanning to the Allegheny Valley Railway (now River Divi- 
sion of the Pennsylvania) station, at that time the northern terminus of the road, 
boarded a train of freight cars and started for the seat of war via Pittsburgh. It 
was about four o'clock in the afternoon wnen the smoky city was reached. The 
Regiment marched to the old City Hall, where an excellent supper was served. 
From here the Regiment marched to the Penna. Railway station and boarded a 
train of passenger cars, which arrived at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, the next day. 
The first fatal accident of the Regiment occurred between Pittsburgh and Harris- 
burg; Adam H. Marsh, private of Co. F, fell from the train and was killed. 

Here was first established that fraternity and comradeship between the loist 
and 103d Penna. Regiments, which was afterwards cemented on many a march 



;>■ .^Se--. 



^^^^ 




Cap:. T. A. Cochran 
Co. C). 
(Comn.ir.ded regiment for 
several rr.onths after ili*^ 
capitu)a:;.r. of Pl\ Jiio-iih. • 



1st Lieut, Zacharjah M. 

Clme (Co. G). 

(Killfd at battle .if Ply- 

iiumtli. I 



Caot. E. G. Cratty (Co. E). 
(ComiDanded legiment b.v 
\irtiie of senioiitj- after ex- 
ciiantted as i)ri.«iiner oi \var..» 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 7 

and battle field, in the prison pen, and camp fire. No preparation had been made 
for sheltering the regiment, and the loist boys, who had been on the ground for 
some time, generously divided their quarters and did what they could to make 
the new arrivals comfortable. The following day, Feb. 26, Sibley tents were 
received and after they were pitched the Regiment marched to the state capitol 
to receive its colors. Gov. Curtin made an inspiring presentation speech which 
called forth hearty cheers from the boys. 

A petition having been passed and almost unanimously signed by both officers 
and men, requesting Gov. Curtin to commission Capt. W. C. Maxwell, of Co. I, 
lieutenant colonel of the Regiment this was done. Audley W. Gazzan, of Pitts- 
burgh, was commissioned major, and Samuel B. Kennedy, also of Pittsburgh, was 
commissioned adjutant, and Oliver R. McNary, of Washington County, was 
commissioned quartermaster. These three commissions were granted on the 
recommendation of Col. Lehmann, the latter insisting that it was the prerogative 
of his position to name them. In lieu of waving this right as to the lieutenant 
colonelcy, he demanded the right to name the first lieutenant of Co. I, which was 
conceded, although not without arousing a feeling of resentment among the officers 
and men of the company. Wm. H. Macrum, of Pittsburgh, was commissioned, 
although he had done nothing towards recruiting the company or Regiment, and 
was an absolute stranger to every member of the company. Had Col. Lehmann's 
appointments been made from men in active service, who were more proficient in 
military training than men who had spent months recruiting and drilling the men. 
both officers and men would have accepted his exactions cheerfully, but when it 
soon became apparent that these appointments were made for other reasons than 
the possession of military requirements, and men that had worked to recruit and 
drill the Regiment had to take minor positions, officers w^ho had championed the 
cause of Col. Lehmann in his controversy with Col. Finlay became his critics, thus 
interfering wnth that amit}' that is necessary for true comradeship and perfect 
military discipline. Gov. Curtin issued commissions to the officers on March i, 
dating those of the company officers to take effect at the date of the organization 
of the company. 

On Feb. 28, the Regiment was mustered for pay and on March 2, camp was 
broken and a train boarded, which arrived at Baltimore shortly after dark. The 
reception accorded the Regiment as it marched from the Penna. R. R. depot in 
Baltimore, to Camden Station, gave no evidence of disloyalty to the government, 
as it received a continuous ovation of flag waving and cheers. Before embarking 
for the Federal capital a bountiful repast was served to the men at quarters which 
were continuously prepared to entertain migrating troops. At dawn of the next 
day, March 3, the dome of the Capitol was the first object of interest to come to 
view. The Regiment landed at the B. and O. station and remained near there 
until eleven o'clock March 4, finding quarters and provisions in the "Soldiers' 
Rest," near the Capitol. From the latter place the Regiment marched past the 
Capitol and went into camp a little beyond where the Congressional Library now 
stands. Three days later, March 7, the Regiment was assigned to Casey's division 
of the Army of the Potomac, and moved to Camp Lloyd, on Meridian Hill, be- 
tween what is now 14th and i6th Streets, just north of W Street. As the 
name would indicate, the site of Camp Lloyd, Meridian Hill, was on an elevation, 
with natural drainage — an ideal location for a camp. Washington at that time 
was one vast camp. Ever}' hillside was dotted with tents and on every field could 
be seen the movement of troops training for war. Wednesday P. M., March 12, 
the Regiment marched to the Arsenal in the Navy Yard and was equipped with 
arms (Austrian rifles) and accoutrements. The commanding general of the army 
issued orders on March 13, to have Casey's division organized at once for the 
field. The Regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade of this division at its 
organization. Its first commander was Brig. Gen. William H. Keim, and it was 



8 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

known as Keim's brigade, until his death. It consisted of the following- infantry- 
regiments : 85th, loist and 103d Penna., and 96th New York. The brigade re- 
mained at Camp Lloyd, Meridian Hill, for three weeks. These were not idle days, 
as the men were kept busy at company, regimental and brig-ade drill. The first 
attempt at brigade drill was made March 21, many blunders being made by the 
officers. Drill was suspended for a time during the afternoon, and Gen. Casey 
reviewed the division. 

While the Regiment was encamped on Meridian Hill the men were vacci- 
nated, and on March 25, received their first pay from date of enlistment until 
March i, at the rate of $13.00 per month for privates; part of which was in 
specie, the only payment made during the war in which any gold or silver was re- 
ceived. After having been at drill during the forenoon, March 28, orders were 
received to break camp and pack up for a final leave-taking of the capital. The 
orders were obeyed with alacrity, for the men were anxious to get to the front. 
The entire division was in line shortly after two o'clock, but the camp wagons in 
which the surplus baggage was carried did not arrive until after four o'clock, 
and caused considerable delay in starting. A few minutes before five o'clock 
Keim's brigade began its first march, and although comprising the rawest troops 
of the Army of the Potomac, the severest military critic could not have distin- 
guished them from the troops longest in service at that time. The sidewalks on 
Fourteenth street were thronged with a mass of humanity, comprising all ages and 
sexes, to view the military pageant which these new regiments presented, with 
nearly a thousand men in each command. Notwithstanding the large number of 
boys under size in each company ejaculations were continuously heard along the 
entire route" through the city, such as, "What a fine body of men!" "Ain't those 
big fellows!" "Where do they grow such tall men?" etc. At the right of every 
company in the 103d Regiment there were a number of men, over six feet in 
height, and evidently these tall fellows so attracted the attention of the onlookers 
that the "little fellows" were overlooked, much to the gratification, however, of 
the latter. Although the men carried heavy knapsacks, several days' rations in 
their haversacks, cartridge boxes filled with ammunition, and the camp accumu- 
lations of several months, they were jubilant and light hearted as they marched 
through the capital to the acclaim of thousands. Long Bridge was crossed by 
"route step," which was continued until the end of the march. Alexandria, only 
eleven miles distant, was not reached until after midnight, owing to the congested 
condition of the road by the troops that preceded the Regiment. This, the first 
march of the brigade, was, perhaps, to many of the men, the roughest they ex- 
perienced during their term of service, and long before it was ended, the en- 
thusiasm of the first hour had gone. Many times afterward in forced marches, 
three times the distance was covered without causing as much distress to so many 
of the men. Gen. Casey in his testimony before the committee on the conduct 
of the war referred to this march in the following terms : 

"We did not start from here (Washington) until late in the afternoon. It 
took us until 12 or i o'clock at night to get down there, and the men were ex- 
posed to a severe snow storm. I considered that wrong to begin with. Had I 
been in command, I would not have done it, because one night's exposure to such 
weather will make many men sick. Many of the men were taken sick from ex- 
posure that night." 

The Regiment bivouacked about a mile and a half below Alexandria awaiting 
transportation to Fortress Monroe. On Sunday, March 30, orders were given 
to pack up and get ready to embark, but on going to the dock there were no 
transports and the men trudged back through the rain, snow and mud, and tried 
to make themselves as comfortable as possible under such unfavorable condi- 
tions. They were in a proper mood to resort to "desperate deeds," and here many, 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 9 

for the first time, assisted in raiding- sutler's wag-ons. About noon, March 31, 
the Regiment embarked on the transport Hero, for the Peninsula. During the 
night the transport collided with a sailing vessel, sinking it and drowning one of 
the crew. 

On the morning of April 3, the Regiment landed at Fortress Monroe, where, 
after halting an hour, it marched about six miles, a little beyond Newport News, 
to Camp Casey, named after the general commanding the division. Difficulty in 
getting provisions landed caused an uneasiness in the stomachs of the boys which 
could not be alleviated, as in subsequent marches, by foraging. However, resort 
. was made to the sutler for relief. 

In his statement before the committee on the conduct of the war. Gen. Casey 
says : 

"I encamped a few miles back of Newport News and it was ten or twelve 
days before we could get our division transportation, and for a part of that time 
mv men had to pack their provisions themselves from the depot at that point." 

It was while at Camp Casey the first detail was made from the Regiment for 
picket duty. While not on picket or camp guard, the men were kept constantly 
at drill. On April 16 camp was broken and the division started on the march up 
the Peninsula. The Regiment left Camp Casey about nine o'clock and reached 
Young's Mill about dusk when, after a brief rest, it continued to march for two 
and a half miles farther where it bivouacked for the night, the first day of rapid 
marching the Regiment experienced, the men carr}'ing heavy knapsacks, and extra 
clothing and blankets. 

At 2 P. M., the next day, April 17, march was resumed but after advancing 
a couple of miles, a halt was made, the Regiment bivouacking in a dense pine 
woods, within two miles of the enemy's fortifications, at a point called Lee's Mill. 
This camp was named Camp Winfield Scott. Here the men had orders to keep 
their arms at their sides, as an attack was probable at any moment. On Sunday 
night, April 20, the Regiment was hurriedly called out and formed in line of bat- 
tle, as were all the regiments of the division, but after a time the men were per- 
mitted to lie down till morning, although there was almost constant cannonading 
at the right in the vicinity of Yorktown. Casey's division was assigned to the 
Fourth Corps on its organization, commanded by Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes. 
This corps comprised the left w^ing of the Army of the Potomac as it invested 
Yorktown. While at Camp Winfield Scott the time was principally put in at 
camp guard and picket duty, the picket line being along the edge of a woods, 
with the enemy's fortifications in full view. One of the diversions of the pickets 
here was to form a small group out in the open field which was sure to draw the 
fire of the enemy. It was here the first flag of truce from the 103d Regiment 
met one from the enemy. Company C was on picket. First Lieut. Fahnestock 
being on the line with the pickets on duty- Private B. H. Scott saw something 
which he thought was a white flag borne by the enemy. He insisted that it was 
a flag of truce, and Lieut. Fahnestock accompanied by Scott and Private Samuel 
Murphy, (the men each bearing arms with fixed bayonets) sauntered forth 
towards the enemy's lines. Soon a white flag was seen approaching from the 
enemy, and when the two parties met, the Confederates (three officers) inquired 
the object of the interview. Lieut. Fahnestock replied that he came in response 
to their signal, which the latter disclaimed having made. The interview was of 
short duration, and as a result Lieut. Fahnestock was placed in arrest for a day or 
two for presuming to have intercourse with the enemy without permission. It 
was the general opinion about camp that the entire party, Scott, Murphy and 
Fahnestock, thought it would be a good joke to meet the enemy under such con- 
ditions, and had drawn upon their imagination when they saw a white flag. For 



10 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

a. few days after the episode they were the most important personages in the 
Regiment. 

On April 28, shelter tents were issued to the Regiment, the first received. 
In addition to guard duty while at Camp Casey, daily details were made for 
fatigue duty, the principal work being the construction of corduroy roads, made 
with small logs laid together transversely. The ground in this part of the Penin- 
sula being very low, level, and marshy at this time of year, made it imperative to 
have all the roads constructed in this manner in order to make them passable 
for supplies to the army. 

CHAPTER III. 
The B.attle of Williamsburg, 
(From May 4, to May 7, 1862.) 

Early on Sunday morning, May 4, the Regiment received orders to fail in 
line with one day's rations, in light marching orders. As these orders implied 
strenuous work, not to exceed a day, nothing was taken but arms, accoutrements, 
ammunition, canteens and haversacks. 

After carefully and slowly advancing on the fortifications of the enemy, it 
was discovered that they had been evacuated. The enemy had buried torpedoes 
in the road leading to their works, one of which exploded, killing one and wound- 
ing six men of Casey's division. The Regiment halted for the night, after pass- 
ing the enemy's fortifications, bivouacking about seven miles from Camp \Vin- 
field Scott, without overcoats, blankets or shelter of any kind whatever. The 
men put in most of the night standing around fires trying to keep warm, a driz- 
zling rain falling steadily through the after part of the night. Before the con- 
gressional committee on the conduct of the war. Gen. Casey testified as follows : 

"On the morning of the 4th of May, when there was some evidence of the 
enemy evacuating their lines, I was ordered at a half hour's notice to go to the 
river and leave everything behind, tents, blankets, knapsacks and everything. 
When I got there the enemy had evacuated their works. I then intended to send 
back for the tents, blankets and knapsacks for my men. But I received peremp- 
tory orders from Gen. Sumner to push on after the enemy without waiting for 
anything. The consequence was that the men of my division — a great many of 
them — were without blankets and knapsacks for several weeks. It was raining 
terribly at the time and the consequence was that I lost a great many men from 
that exposure, as they were obliged to lie down in the mud, exposed to the rain, 
without any protection whatever. * * * At the time we could not get the 
m.edicine we actually needed. The men actually suffered for the want of quinine ; 
they could not get it when they wanted it. * * * I tried time and again to 
get it, for the men actually required it, but I could not. I never was in a more 
sickly country than that." 

On the morning of May 5, the Regiment resumed its march until about noon 
when it halted in a large field, formed line of battle, and after a halt of nearly 
two hours, was ordered forward. There had been moderate cannonading in front 
all morning, with some musketry firing, which gradually increased. The mias- 
matic conditions of the Peninsula had already shown its eflFect among both oflfi- 
cers and men, especially among the former. On this march Gen. Keim, com- 
mander of the brigade, and Col. Lehmann were left behind. 

The Regiment pursued its march through a tough and slippery mud, and a 
cold, drizzling rain, until about five o'clock, when it took position in a field sepa- 
rated from the firing line only by a few yards of woods. Here Gen. Keyes made 
a spirit-stirring address. The cheering of the boys in response drew the fire of 
the enemy, the batteries shelling the position occupied by the Regiment, however, 




Maj. James F. Mackey. 




Capt. Fletcher Smullin. 
(Co. D.) 





Lieut. S. D. Burns. 
(Co. H.) 



Adjutant Wm. H. Irwin. 




Dr. W. B. Kroesen 
(2d Lieut. Co. K.) 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 11 

wounding" only two men. Gen. Keim, who had remained in camp quite ill, also 
appeared and assumed command of the brigade. A little while before dark the 
Regiment was ordered to march to the point of action but the order was counter- 
manded. It had reached only part of the Regiment and for a time two com- 
panies of the right wing were separated from the left. A little later, however, 
they were again united and relieved a regiment of Peck's brigade, of Couch's di- 
vision, standing in line of battle within one hundred yards of the enemy until 
daylight — a night never to be forgotten by the men of the 103d. Exposed as 
they had been to rain all day with scarcely any food, marching and counter- 
. marching, through mud and water, without either rubber or woolen blankets, 
drenched to the skin, standing in line of battle within a hundred yards of the enemy 
the chatter of their teeth could have been heard by the enemy had he not been 
busy getting ready to retreat. This was the first terrible experience of the Regi- 
ment, and could never be forgotten by an}- one who underwent the privation of 
that night. 

Capt. Donaghy refers to this night in his "Army Experience" as follows : 

"It rained hard all night and the air was cold and the men were without 
tents, blankets or overcoats. Tired and sleepy as they were, they could only stand 
and take the rain. They leaned against trees or crowded together in large groups 
to keep warm. When they stood thus for awhile some would fall asleep sup- 
ported on their feet by the others. When the majority of them were overcome 
by sleep the whole mass would lurch over and fall to the ground, only to gather 
themselves up and renew the process. The rebels in front were making a good 
deal of noise. We could hear the words of command and the clatter of arms 
and the sound of marching, but we could not tell whether they were being rein- 
forced or were preparing to leave. 

"Alaj. Gazzam called me and asked me to see the general and ask to have 
the Regiment relieved. Then I found out how dark the night was. I groped 
my wa}' to the left along the line, descended a hollow, and in going up the other 
side I got outside of our line. As I approached it from the front I heard the click 
of gunlocks and the challenge of a startled sentinel. I quickly answered 'Friend, 
with the countersign,' and over the points of several bayonets I had to explain 
who I was and where I was going. Gen. Devens was in command of that part of 
the line, and I found him lying at the foot of a tree. I explained to him our con- 
dition and gave him the major's request. I told him of the noise we had heard in 
the rebel camp. He said he could do nothing for the Regiment till morning, and 
he directed us to be vigilant just before dayhght, for, if the enemy had been re- 
inforced, we might expect an attack. We got the men into pretty good order and 
stood ready for what the day might bring." 

As daylight approached Maj. Gazzam sent two men, B. H. Scott and W. S. 
Cochran of Co. C, forward to reconnoiter. They discovered an officer's horse, 
fully caparisoned, evidently only recently deserted by its rider, standing a short 
distance in front of Fort Magruder. While Cochran stood with his musket ready 
to fire Scott crept stealthily forward and captured the animal. This was the first 
Regimental trophy of the war and the captors were much elated over their prize, 
but later they felt some chagrin when the animal was confiscated by the quarter- 
master's department of the brigade. Had it not been for this animal, it is very 
probable that Scott and Cochran would have been the first Federal soldiers to 
enter Fort Magruder, for while their attention was centered on the horse and 
trappings, men of other regiments passed on into the fortfications. It was soon 
apparent that the enemy was in full retreat, and that the commands given by the 
Confederate officers during the night and plainly heard by the men of the Regi- 
ment were given with the intention to deceive, so they could retire unmolested. 
The Regiment remained in front of Fort Magruder until the middle of the after- 
noon, and here the men. for the first time, had an opportunity to realize one of 



12 103D PENNSYLV.-VNIA REGIMENT 

the most horrible aspects of war — to gaze on the silent, ghastly, upturned faces 
of the dead — the blue and the gray — who the day before charged upon each oth- 
ers' ranks — their mute remains now intermingled on the battlefield. 

About 3:30 P. M., May 6, the Regiment left the Williamsburg battlefield 
and moved about two miles, bivouacking on the south bank of the York river. In 
Gen. Keyes official report of the battle of Williamsburg he says: 

"During an hour and a half Peck's brigade * * * continued to stand 
its ground alone against the furious onslaught of the enemy, inflicting great loss 
upon the rebels. * * * Toward night he was re-enforced by * * * three 
regiments, the 85th Penna., Col. Howell; loist Penna., Col. Wilson, and 103d, 
Maj. Gazzam. * * * Gen. Peck speaks well of the services of those regi- 
ments, and when the ammunition of his own men was exhausted, he relieved 
them with six of these fresh regiments, who held the position during the night. 
* * * The troops met the enemy with perfect steadiness, and delivered their 
fire with an effect which the prisoners captured described as most deadly. But 
the courage and skill of the troops are much less to be wondered at than the 
good temper and fortitude with which they have borne hardships, exposure to 
mud, rain and hunger, during the battle, before and after it. These qualities, 
according to Napoleon, are more essential than courage itself." (O. R. Ser. I, 
\'ol. XI, Part I, pp. 571-576.) 

Gen. Keim in his official report says: 

"The 103d Regiment Penna. Vols., Maj. Gazzam commanding, was also 
ordered to the front, to support Gen. Peck. * * * Taking into consideration 
that the men had only one day's rations since Sunday morning, no overcoats, 
woolen' or gum blankets, they evinced a spirit of endurance and heroic courage 
worthy of veterans, and the men and officers are entitled to praise for their 
arduous and successful efforts." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, Part I, pp. 561-562.) 

Gen. John J. Peck, one of whose regiments was relieved by the 103d in this 
battle (and who afterward succeeded Gen. Casey as commander of the division), 
refers to the 103d in his official report as follows: 

"Maj. Gazzam, of the 103d Penna. Vols., was very efficient and only needed 
a renewal of the action to exhibit the soldiership of the regiment." (O. R. Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, Part I, pp. 520-523.) 

As Maj. Gazzam received his appointment and commission as major of the 
Regiment, through the influence of Col. Lehmann, and had in no wise assisted 
in recruiting the Regiment, both officers and men were at first prejudiced against 
him. However, his evident desire to get the Regiment into close quarters with 
the enemy, did much to remove this prejudice, and his subsequent actions con- 
firmed the men in the belief that he was fearless in the presence of the enemy. 

On Tuesday morning, Alay 7, the Regiment was under arms at daylight, 
and soon was advancing towards the enemy, passing through Williamsburg early 
in the morning. As the Regiment passed through the village, a woman, who, 
evidently belonged to the "poor white trash," stood in front of the door of her 
home, and in a tantalizing manner, prophesied, that the, "Yankees would soon be 
getting back a d d sight faster than they were advancing." 

Williamsburg, although then only a village of perhaps a thousand inhabi- 
tants, is a historic place. For over one hundred years it was the capital of Vir- 
ginia. Jamestown, less than nine miles away, was burned in 1676. The capital 
was then moved over to what was called the Middle Plantation, which was sub- 
sequently named Williamsburg in honor of King William. It is the seat of the 
second oldest college in the United States, William and ]\Iary College, chartered 
in 1693. Among the graduates of this college were Peyton Randolph, Edmund 
Randolph, John Marshall. Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Randolph, 
John Tyler and Gen. Winfield Scott. Here George Washington received his 
credentials which authorized him to survey, and here he made his headquarters 






1st Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester 
(Co. I). 



Corp. John A. Kelley 
(Co. I). 

(Toungest member of the 
regiment, not 15 at enlist- 
ment, to do continuous ser- 
vice throughout the war.) 



1st Sergt. Jackson McCoy 
(Co. I). 






Capt. A. H. Alexander 
(Co. A). 



Capt. Reynolds Laughlin 
(Co. A). 

(Brought the first detach- 
ment of the regiment into 
camp, Aug. Cm. 1S61.) 



2d Lieut. Oliver McCall 
(Co. A). 




1st Lieut. J. M. Laughlin 
(Co. A). 





Corp. Thorr.as Hays (Co. B). 



Priv. Samuel Kelley 
(Co. I). 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 13 

during the Revolutionary War, at the home of George Wythe, a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, during the Yorktown Campaign of 1781 ; it was 
here that the Raleigh Tavern was located where Thomas Jefferson and his fel- 
low students had such jolly times, frequent reference to which is made in Jeffer- 
son's diar}% Williamsburg is the capital of James City County, 46 miles south- 
east of Richmond and about 12 miles from Yorktown, situated between the James 
and the York Rivers. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks. 

(From May 7 to June 4, 1862.) 

During the march, Alay 7, considerable firing could be heard in advance, 
indicating that a battle was imminent, but nothing serious occurred and the 
Regiment continued its march until late in the afternoon, having advanced about 
twelve miles during the day. A halt was ordered until about three P. AI., May 9, 
when a farther advance of about two miles was made. At seven o'clock the next 
morning. May 10, the Regiment started and marched slowly all day, with an oc- 
casional halt, bivouacking in a wheat field about dusk, advancing in all about ten 
miles. Col. Lehmann arrived and assumed command. 

No farther advance was made until the morning of the 13th, when, at 7:30, 
march was resumed, and continued, with occasional rests, until after midnight, 
when a halt was made at New Kent Court House. The brigade remained here, 
for four days, during which time the knapsacks left at Camp Casey were brought 
forward and were found in good condition. 

On the evening of the 17th, immediately after dress parade, an advance of 
eight or ten miles was made and, at about midnight, camp was pitched at Wh.ite 
House. This was the home of Mrs. Martha Custis when she married George 
Washington, and at this time was owned and occupied by Mrs. Lee, the wife of 
Gen. Robert E. Lee. ]\Irs. (Mary Custis) Lee was the daughter of Air. George 
Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington, the adopted son of George Washingto^n, 
and was heir to the estates of Arlington and White House. She was married to 
Gen. Lee in the year 1832. Immediately after resigning his commission in the 
U. S. A., Gen. Lee moved his family from Arlington to the White House. On 
the approach of the Army of the Potomac, up the Peninsula, Mrs. Lee took refuge 
with her family with friends nearer Richmond. The plantation was an ide'al 
place for a camp, but after a day's rest, the Regiment continued to advance up the 
Peninsula, moving about seven miles on the 19th, starting about ri A. M., and 
marching until dark, making many tedious stops and finally encamping between 
three and four miles east of the Chickahominy River. During this march Col. 
Lehmann had a collision with a sutler's wagon, his horse being injured and he 
thrown to the ground. His injuries were such that he remained behind. The 
lieutenant colonel and major both being absent, and so many line officers sick 
Maj. Kelley of the 96th New York, was temporarily placed in command of the 
Regiment. However, Maj. Gazzam put in an appearance late in the afternoon 
and relieved him. On the 20th, during a reconnoissance by a detail from Casev's 
division, an artillery duel between a Confederate battery and two batteries of 
Casey's Artillery under Col. G. D. Bailey. Chief of Artillery of Casey's division, 
continued for about an hour, when the Confederates retired. 

On the 21 St, the brigade advanced three miles nearer Richmond, bivouacking- 
on an elevated plateau overlooking the Chickahominy. On the 23d the famous 
Chickahominy river was crossed bringing the division, now the vanguard of the 
Army of the Potomac, in close proximity to the Confederate lines. " 

In the advance up the Peninsula, whenever a day's halt was made, if it were 



14 103D PENNSYLV.\NIA REGIMENT 

not raining, and the condition of the ground permitted, regimental drill and 
dress parade were kept up, details made for camp guard, and every night, whether 
on the march or in camp, one or more companies of the Regiment was detailed 
for picket duty — duty that did not permit any one, except some of those on re- 
serve, to obtain any sleep. On the 24th the Regiment marched and counter- 
marched and finally went into camp about a mile from where it started, in a large 
field contiguous to a dense woods. 

Brig. Gen. Keim, who left a sick bed to be with his brigade at the battle of 
Williamsburg, suffered a relapse, due to the exposure incurred, and died at Har- 
risburg May 18. During his absence the command of the brigade devolved upon 
Col. J. B. Howell, of the 85th Penna., a very popular officer, not only with his 
own regiment, but also with the officers and men of the entire brigade. On May 
24, Gen. McClellan assigned Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells to the command of the 
brigade. 

On Sunday, the 25th, an advance of another mile was made and four com- 
panies of the Regiment placed on picket. The Regiment was now in the vicinity 
of Seven Pines and shifted camp on May 26 and 27. It began raining in the 
middle of the afternoon of the 26th and continued without cessation all the next 
day. Here there was almost a constant exchange of shots between the pickets of 
the two armies, and occasionally the artillery would be engaged. Fully one-half 
of the Regiment was engaged either throwing up rifle pits, slashing timber or on 
picket duty, and while the commissary department found it difficult to provide 
ample rations it tried to malce amends by furnishing quinine diluted in whisky. 
At about the break of day on the 29th, in a heavy fog, an attack was made on the 
picket line immediately in front of the Regiment, and the entire division was kept 
in line of battle several hours anticipating a general attack, Maj. John E. Kelley, 
of the 96th New York Infantry, who was in command of the picket, was killed 
at the beginning of the attack. Capt. Geo. W. Gillespie of Co. B, who was next 
in rank, and who was on picket with his company, assumed command and drove 
the enemy back and maintained his position. Newton Joseph of Co. B, was killed 
in this action, on the picket post. It is evident he was killed at close range, as his 
skull was crushed in, probably from the butt of a musket in the hands of one of 
the enemy. In his official report of this skirmish Gen. Casey says : 

"At daylight this morning (May 29) the enemy attacked my advance picket 
on the Richmond road. They took advantage of the dense fog, and approached 
verv near before being discovered. The pickets behaved nobly, and drove the 
rebels back in disorder. They left a wounded prisoner on the ground, who states 
that their force consisted of 300 men, of the 23d North Carolina Regiment. We 
lost, one officer and one private killed and two enlisted men wounded. 
Capt. George W. Gillespie, of the 103d Penna. Volunteers, who commanded the 
pickets after the death of Maj. Kelley, behaved very- well." (O. R. Ser. I, Part I, 

PP- 745-746.) 

Private Newton Joseph of Co. B, killed in this skirmish, was the first man 
of the Regiment killed by the enemy. His remains were brought into camp and 
dire threats of vengeance were uttered by comrades as they took a view of his 
mutilated forehead. He had two brothers in Co. I, both of whom died subse- 
quently in the service, one at Wilmington, N. C, just after being paroled from 
Confederate prison. 

Early in the forenoon of the 29th of May, the brigade advanced about three- 
fourths of a mile, the 103d Regiment encamping a few yards south of the Wil- 
liamsburg and Richmond wagon road, back of an immense wood pile ten or 
twelve feet high. South of the Regiment's camp, and within a few yards of it, 
were two houses, known as the "twin houses." The other regiments of the 
brigade were encamped in the rear of the 103d, south of the road. Before tents 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 15 

were pitched, large details were made from the various regiments of the brigade 
for fatigue duty, and men were immediately put to work building a redoubt, rifle 
pits, and slashing timber along the edge of a wood which bordered the western 
side of an open field in which the redoubt and rifle pits were located, nearly a 
half mile in advance, towards Richmond. The redoubt, known in the officialre- 
ports as "Casey's Redoubt," was situated about fifty yards directly in front of the 
camp of the Regiment, the north side of which was fully fifty yards south of the 
Williamsburg and Richmond stage road, and nearly three-fourths of a mile south 
of Fair Oaks Station, on the Richmond and York River Railroad. About noon 
on the 30th of May, the pickets were driven in, the enemy advancing to the edge 
of the woods where details were engaged in slashing the timber into abatis. The 
division was hurriedly placed in line of battle, while the batteries of Casey's artil- 
lery thoroughly shelled the woods. The looth New York Regiment was sent 
forward, when the enemy soon retired and the picket line was re-established. 
While the division was still in hne of battle a terrific thunder storm suddenly 
broke forth, accompanied by torrents of rain, which continued through most of 
the night. Just after the storm began Co. C, of the Regiment, was taken from 
the line of battle, and under the command of Lieut. Fahnestock, was hurried to 
the picket line, wading ankle deep through water in getting there. The ri^-ht 
wing of the company relieved the pickets north of the Williamsburg road, be- 
ginning with the first post north of the road, extending north towards the rail- 
road two or three hundred yards. The left wing formed the reserve, and took 
■shelter in a log cabin, about fifty yards in rear of the picket line. A blazing log 
fire Avas kept up all night, the men drying their clothing, cleaning their muskets. 
most of them drawing their loads and reloading, to make sure that the powder 
was dry. Towards morning most of them lay stretched upon the floor of the 
cabin sound asleep while a sentry stood guard at the door to give the alarm if an 
attack were made on the picket. Shortly after daylight, Sergt. J. M. Wilson, 
relieved the men posted on picket by the men on reserve, in order to give them an 
opportunity to dry their clothing and get some breakfast. 

The picket line was posted along the edge of a woods in front of which was 
an open field, which evidently had at one time been cultivated, but was now cov- 
ered with a dense undergrowth, with here and there a break, where no crrowth 
was perceptible. Clusters of scrubby oalcs or dwarf pines were scattered over the 
field. The 103d pickets covered the line, beginning at the first post north of the 
Williamsburg and Richmond wagon road, and extending in a straight line 
towards the railroad, which at this point was about a mile north of the wagon 
road. The undergrowth in front of the pickets did not permit of an extended 
view, although at some points the wood at the western side of the open field, 
about 400 or 500 yards distant, was visible. A heavy fog prex^ailed during the 
early morning but by nine o'clock it had disappeared, although the atmosphere 
remained somewhat hazy. After the fog had vanished large bodies of the enemv 
were in full view of the pickets, on the opposite side of the field. In the mean- 
time Capt. S. P. Townsend of Co. C, who, being somewhat ill. had remained in 
camp during the night, had relieved Lieut. Fahnestock, and had taken charge of 
the pickets at this point, making his headquarters at the first post, north o"f the 
Williamsburg road. With the aid of Capt. Townsend's field glass the Confed- 
erate officers were readily distinguished from the enlisted men. The pickets had 
received strict orders not to fire upon the enemy unless attacked in force, and 
this order was rigidly obeyed during the forenoon of May 31, notwithstanding 
the many statements to the contrary'. As the forenoon advanced it was plainly 
evident to the pickets north of the Williamsburg road that the enemy was mass- 
ing in front, with the intention of making an attack. Capt. Townsend was so 
certain of this that he repeatedly dispatched a courier into division headquarters 



16 103D PENNSYLV.-VNIA REGIMENT 

with this information. About noon, the Confederate field officers mounted, and 
the men fell into ranks. The indications were so strongly in favor of an im- 
mediate attack that every man on picket was at a tension in anticipation of the 
advance of the enemy. A few minutes later three shots were fired in rapid suc- 
cession from a battery, masked from view, planted immediately north of the 
Williamsburg- road, and about half way across the open field. The missiles from 
these shots went whizzing through the tree tops where the pickets stood and 
passed on over Casey's camp. While the official record does not state, these shots 
were evidently fired by the ]eS Davis Battery, from Alabama, commanded by 
Capt. J. W. Bondurant, attached to Garland's brigade, of Hill's division. These 
shots were the signal for the enemy to advance. As the smoke from the battery 
cleared away the enemy was seen to be advancing and immediately the pickets 
opened fire. Thomas J. McKee, of the 103d Regiment, firing the first shot, a 
picket on the Williamsburg road firing almost simultaneously. The pickets kept 
up a rapid fire, checking the skirmishers of the enemy, and forcing the regiments 
of the attacking brigade, which were moving by right flank, into line of battle. 
Immediately after the pickets opened fire. Gen. Casey ordered the 103d Regi- 
ment forward to support the pickets. Although the picket line was nearly three- 
fourths of a mile in advance of the camp of the Regiment, the pickets of the 
Regiment retained their position at the edge of the woods until after the arrival 
of the Regiment, which was formed in line of battle, about fifty yards in rear of 
the picket line, Companies B and G, south of the road, and Companies A, D, H, 
E and K, north of the road. Companies F and I did not accompany the Regi- 
ment, the former having been detailed for fatigue duty in the morning, and was 
engaged slashing timber north of the Williamsburg road when the attack was 
made, and did not reach camp until after the Regiment had departed to support 
the picket line. Co. I had been detailed to reheve the pickets, and remained in 
camp, expecting the attack to be of the same nature as that of the two previous 
days. The Regiment had not succeeded in making its alignment, which owing to 
the tangled brush and undergrowth in the woods, was a difficult task, before it 
received a terrific fire from the enemy, drawn from the latter in return for the 
fire from the pickets. The Regiment returned the fire, and continued to do so, 
until it was flanked on the right, when it was ordered to fall back, making a stand 
on a road extending through the woods, almost at right angle to the Williams- 
burg road. However, only two or three volleys had been fired from this position 
when Capt. Laughlin, who commanded Co. A, on the right of the Regiment, no- 
ticed the enemy closing in on the right flank, and realizing that the capture of 
the Regiment was inevitable unless it fell back rapidly, called down the line for 
the men to get back as quickly as they could, Maj. Gazzam supplementing the 
order. The dense and tangled condition of the undergrowth prevented the Regi- 
ment from falling back in any kind of order, and before it emerged from the 
woods it was broken into fragments. As the men came out of the woods Capts. 
Gillespie, Laughlin and Mackey succeeded in rallying nearly a hundred men and 
were forming them along the east side of the abatis when they were ordered out 
of that by an officer of Spratt's battery which was in position north of the Wil- 
liamsburg road, about 400 yards in front of the rifle pits. This detachment of the 
Regiment then moved out of range of this battery, taking position to the left 
of a detachment of the nth Maine, where they did effective work until driven 
back by overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Of the effectiveness of this fire, 
which came from this detachment of the 103d and less than 100 men from the 
nth Maine, and eight companies of the 104th Penna. Regiment, the official re- 
ports of the Confederate officers give ample evidence. 

In retiring under the heavy fire of the enemy in the woods Maj. Gazzam 
was swept from his horse by a limb of a tree, and in the fall his head striking a 



CHRONOLOGICAL xNARRATIVE 17 

log, was momentarily stunned. He remounted almost instantly and succeeded in 
reaching the Williamsburg road, to find the Regiment scattered into fragments, 
and the batteries of Casey's artillery shelling the woods from which it had fled. 
Seeing a number of the Regiment fleeing towards the intrenchments, he galloped 
ahead and halted them as they came up, succeeding in rallying less than a hun- 
dred men on the road, in rear of Spratt's battery. Gen. Casey having come for- 
ward to take a sur^-ey of his first line of battle directed Maj. Gazzam to fall back 
of the redoubt and rally the straggling men as they came in. The major formed 
the Regiment, or rather the remnant of it, north of the Williainsburg road, 
parallel to it, the right resting about fifty yards in rear of the rifle pits, along 
which the 85th Penna. Regiment was deployed. It was at this juncture when 
the acting color bearer, Sergt. W. N. Barr, of Co. C, came up with the colors. 
The celerity with which the Regiment moved in going to the support of the 
pickets, made it impracticable to unfurl the colors while rushing to the front, and 
before the Regiment had been properly aligned in the woods, the flag stafiE was 
shot in two pieces, at the lower edge of the colors. Sergt. Barr held on to both 
pieces, but in falling back got separated from the main body of the Regiment and 
in coming in was directed by Gen. Casey where to find it. When the major saw 
Barr approach with the colors he took possession of them, and kept them for a 
time, unfurling and waving them, to halt the fleeing men from the front. A little 
later Major Gazzam received orders to drop back and picket the rear with his 
command and halt the stragglers from the front. 

As the Regiment was moving back a stait officer, from the rear, evidently 
of Gen. Keyes' staff, ordered Major Gazzam to take position in Couch's line, the 
major by this time, having succeeded in getting about 150 men together. The 
men were put in the rifle pits south of the Williamsburg road, a regiment of 
Couch's division being in line of battle immediately in front. Twice after this 
the remnant of the Regiment, under Major Gazzam, shifted position m com- 
pliance with orders given by staff officers and finally, it was sent to the rear 
and ordered to take position back of intrenchments near Savage Station. The 
men who rallied around Major Gazzam after the rout of the Regiment, remained 
with the colors of the Regiment throughout the day, and, although not in a posi- 
tion to again fire on the enemy, it was through no fault of the men or their 
commander. It is true, the experiences these men had undergone in the woods 
in front, almost surrounded by the enemy, and in the abatis, between the fires of 
both friend and foe, had had a demoralizing effect, and none of them was 
yearning keenly to charge upon the enemy, yet they were ready to obey orders, 
be what they would. 

Co. I, commanded by Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester, was detailed on Saturday 
morning for picket duty, and remained in camp when the Regiment went forward 
to support the pickets. ' Co. F, commanded by ist Lieut. Josiah Zink, was detailed 
early in the forenoon to slash timber in front of the advanced abatis, and had 
been at work north of the Williamsburg road during the forenoon. The men 
of this company were at luncheon when the attack was made, less than three 
hundred yards back of the picket line, but it was some time before thy realized 
that the advance of the enemy was more than a reconnoissance. Before they 
reached camp the Regiment was engaged with the enemy in advance of where 
they had been at work during the forenoon. Lieut. John Donaghy of Co. F, 
was officer of the camp guard, and when the firing gave evidence that the enemy 
was advancing in force, "he transferred his command to Lieut. John M. Cochran 
of Co. C, who was ill in camp. Under direction of Gen. Wessells, Companies F, 
and I, and some men of other companies who were not present when the Regi- 
ment went forward, commanded by Lieuts. Zink, Kiester and Donaghy, formed 
on the -left of the 96th New York' Regiment, as it was moving to take position 



18 103D PENNSYLVAxNnA REGIMENT 

in the advanced line to the left of the Williamsburg road, in. front of the rifle 
pits. While here, a portion of F. under the command of Lieut. Donag-hy, de- 
ployed as skirmishers in front of the 96th, and as the enemy pressed forward on 
the left he received a spirited fire from this detachment before it fell back. 
The commander of the 96th, realizing the precarious situation of his regiment, 
ordered it, and Co. I, to retire to the rear of the rifle pits, and in doing so, Lieut. 
Donaghy's command became separated from it, and thenceforth acted independ- 
ently of it. Co. I remained with the 96th after it took position in rear of the 
rifle pits, until it was broken into fragments in falling back through the abatis. 

As the battle continued to rage Lieut. John M. Cochran of Co. C, who, 
although excused from duty because of illness, volunteered to relieve Lieut. 
Donagliy as officer of the camp guard, rallied a detachment of men of various 
companies, including those on camp guard, and formed them immediately south 
of the redoubt behind the rifle-pits, and remained there until after he \vas 
severely wounded and had to be assisted from the field. 

Although the 103rd Regiment had been scattered into fragments when it 
fell back into the first abatis, yet the various detachments rendered eifective 
service against the enemy. Capts. Laughlin, Gillespie and Mackey, as before 
stated, forming their detachment to the right and in advance of Spratt's battery, 
and remaining there until completely overwhelmed. Driven back in a rout these 
men joined in with other commands at any point where a stand was made. 
Laughlin rallied a number as they passed the rifle pits and took position to the 
left of the loist and remained there until that regiment was forced back. After 
Wessell's brigade was driven back from the redoubt and rifle pits Col. Howell of 
the 85th Penna. rallied a portion of liis regiment, along with men of other 
regiments, and formed them south of the Williamsburg road in the abatis in 
rear of Wessells' camp. Lieut. Donaghy, who had succeeded in keeping a 
group of the 103rd Regiment together, united with Col. Howell's command, 
and for a time acted as his adjutant. Of this phase of the battle Lieut. Donaghy 
says : 

'"Col. Howell ordered the line forward, and we moved through the slashing 
until we came in view of our old camp, which was now in the possession of the 
enemy. * * * Wg began active skirmishing, firing right through our tents, 
which the rebels were using as screens to fire from, or were looking for plunder. 
We were under a pretty severe fire and a good many of our men were killed and 
wounded. This heterogeneous line was at last left alone; not a L^nion flag- or 
soldier could be seen to the right or left of us. We were certainly the last of 
Casey's division on the field, and the enemy's forces were forming in masses 
just behind the wood pile and away to the right and left ; not firing, but forming 
for another move on our army. An aide from the force to our rear came up and 
ordered us back. * * * j had seen Capt. Gillespie of our Regiment to the 
rear of our line, and he was with us as we moved back. The firing now ceased 
on both sides, but it was the lull before the storm. When we got back to the 
open space where we had rallied our force we saw a line of soldiers in the woods 
to the left of that position. They stood, in grim silence, and in good order, and 
as we had not expected to see an enemy there we thought they were our own 
men ; but noticing straw hats and gray uniforms among them, we were perplexed 
with doubts. I stood on a stump to have a better view, and halloed out to 
them, "show your colors." It was not a discreet thing to do, and I realized that 
when their guns came to an aim. I dropped quickly behind the stump, and 
their bullets splashed sand and water in my face. Our doubts were dispelled ; 
it was now every man for himself with us. I crawled into a thicket towards the 
rear, and when I came out at the other side I saw Corp. Bostaph of my company 
staggering from a wound under his arm. Sergt. Rimer and I took hold of him 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 19 

and hdped him along. A man of Co. D, told me that Gillespie had fallen. As 
we came in view of Couch's line men called to us to hurry back. * * * 
Within the lines I met again the colonel of the 96th New York, and he advised 
our party to seek our Regiments. By this time we had had enough fighting 
for one day, and so we took his advice and continued our course to the rear. 
We placed Bostaph in an ambulance. It was five o'clock when we found our 
regiment, a mile to the rear. * * * My company had one killed and eleven 
wounded, which was a large portion, considering that there were only about 
thirty-five of the men engaged." 

In Maj. Gazzam's official report of the battle he says: "The Regiment, when 
marched out, consisted of 430 men." As the Regiment was hurriedly formed 
and rushed out without a roll call or count it was impossible for him to give 
the exact number. As only seven companies were represented, the number given 
is greatly exaggerated, as the camp was full of the sick excused from duty among 
which were both officers and men. A fair estimate of the men fit for duty 
would not exceed fifty to a company, which would bring the number to about 
350 ; it certainly did not reach 400. At no period in the history of the Regiment, 
except when confined in Confederate military prisons, was the sickness so gen- 
eral among both officers and men as at this particular time. The colonel and 
lieutenant-colonel and several line officers were absent from the Regiment on 
account of sickness, and many of those present were excused from duty. Capt. 
Martin, of Co. E, was carried from his tent on a stretcher while the battle was 
raging and died from the disease a week later. Lieut. Irwin, of Co. G, was also 
ill in his tent, and did not leave his bed until the surgeon ordered him to the 
rear. He had to have assistance to get back. Within sixty days from the date 
of the battle the following officers had either been discharged on Surgeon's 
certificate, or resigned from the service owing to illness, Capt. S. P. Townsend, 
Co. C; Capt. Hamilton, and Lieutenant Meredith, Co. D; Capt. McDowell, Co. 
F ; and Lieut. Kroesen of Co. K ; the latter, however, leaving the service as 
the result of wounds received in the battle of Fair Oaks. The illness was largely 
due to exposure and impure drinking water, resulting in dysenteric illness. As 
a result of the losses in the battle of Fair Oaks and the sickness that prevailed 
at this tim.e, an assistant inspector general of the Army of the Potomac, N. H. 
Davis, reported the average strength of the four regiments comprising Wessells' 
brigade on June 5, as 348, an average of less than 35 to a company. The official 
report of the killed of the 103rd Regiment in the battle of Fair Oaks (O. R. Se- 
ries. I, Vol. XI, part I, page 762.) is given as i officer and 7 men. This table 
was compiled immediately after the battle, and before the missing had been ac- 
counted for. The total killed in the battle, or died of wounds received in action 
was 35 — 2 officers and 33 men, as follows : Capt. George W. Gillespie, Co. B ; 
2nd Lieut. George D. Schott, Co. A; Corp. Oliver C. Grandy, Privates, Jacob 
Barr, John R. Bowman, Co. A ; Privates, John B. Bish, Barney Deany, Lorenzo 
Frantz, Newton Joseph, Robert McCleary, Henry C. Skakely, Co. B ; Pri- 
Thomas Meredith, Co. C ; Sergt. James W. O'Donnell, Privates, Emanuel 
Bucher, Jacob Stultz, Co. D ; Privates, Nathaniel Allison, Patrick Norris, Co. 
E; Corp. Colin Boyd, and Pri. Rankin W. Boyle, Co. F: Privates, Balser Graft, 
Elijah M. Shirer, Co. G; Privates, Hezekiah Irwin, Francis Judy, John Loll, 
Adam Turney, Co. H; Privates, Elijah McDonald, Fowler Miller. Thomas L. 
Morris. Thomas O'Connor, Samuel Sylvies, Co. I ; William Justice, Thomas 
Knox, John McClung, John Price, John Allman, Co. K. 

It is interesting to note how the lapse of time clouds the memory and con- 
fuses incidents. Without any knowledge of what Capt. Donaghy, who resides at 
Deland, Florida, has written, John H. White of Tacoma, Washington, who was 
a Sergeant in Capt. Donaghy's company, writes as follows: 



20 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

"On the morning- of the battle of Fair Oaks a detail from Co. F, under com- 
mand of Lieuts. Zink and Donaghy were sent to the front to slash timber on the 
right of the Williamsburg road. When we stopped at noon for dinner some 
of us slipped out to the picket line and tried to pass out, but the pickets refused 
to let us pass and pointed to the rebel line of battle two or three hundred yards 
in advance, in the same field with the pickets. While talking with the pickets the 
signal for advance was fired from a battery but a' short distance to our left. 
Almost immediately after the signal guns were fired the pickets opened the 
battle by a rapid and continuous fire. We started to camp with our tools but 
before we arrived there the battle was raging fiercely, and we knew now that 
a general engagement was on. When we arrived in camp we learned that the Regi- 
ment had been sent forward to support the picket line. Our detail was placed to 
the left of a regiment occupying the front line and was ordered to deploy as 
skirmishers in front of the regiment. The enemy were creeping through the 
abatis, but we were cautioned not to fire as our Regiment was supposed to be in 
our front supporting the pickets. When the enemy was within a hundred yards 
of us, I, feeling sure that it was not our boys, exclaimed to Lieut. Donaghy that 
I would fire. He again cautioned me not to fire until he took a survey of the 
position. To do so he jumped on a stump and called out: 'Show your colors!' 
the response was a galling fire." 

Sergt. White relates this incident as occurring at the advanced line, when 
Lieut. Donaghy 's command was first engaged in the battle, while Capt. Donaghy 
places it at the last stand made by his command, just in front of Couch's line, 
about a mile in rear of where Sergt. White places it. While the two narratives 
seem to be conflicting, they are really corroborative of each other, so far as 
essentials are concerned. Of the death and burial of Capt. Gillespie Capt. 
Donaghy says : 

"On Monday I went over the ground where we had fought on Saturday. It 
was a scene of sickening horror that I will not attempt to describe. A number 
of my miscellaneous battalion was still there in their last sleep. Our quarter- 
master, who was in charge of a burying party, told me that Gillespie's body 
had not been found, and I conducted his party to the spot where I had stood 
on the stump and close by we found the captain's body. He had been shot 
through the breast; his sword was gone, but the scabbard was there broken up. 
The shoulder straps and buttons had been taken from his coat, and his pockets 
were turned inside out. We carried him to our old camp and buried him in a 
long line that was forming there; their last muster. I marked his name on a 
piece of cracker box and put it at his head." 

The sensational newspaper correspondents who were not within a mile and 
a half of Casey's line of pickets, where the battle of Fair Oaks began, have had 
much to say in criticism of the pickets, and the 103rd Regiment which went 
to their support. As the adverse reports and criticisms reflecting on the conduct 
of the Regiment are quoted in another part of the volume it will be needless to 
repeat them here. Not all the newspaper correspondents followed the bark of 
Gens. McClellan and Heintzelman. Among these was the special correspondent 
of the Philadelphia Press. Joel Cook. From his correspondence he compiled a 
volume, which Avas published by George W. Childs, in 1862, entitled "The 
Siege of Richmond." Referring to the 103rd Regiment in the battle of Fair 
Oaks, he says: 

"The rebel skirmishers came through the woods just at noon, and on the 
instant the Federal pickets commenced firing. The vast body of advancing 
troops being hidden by the woods, the attack being mistaken for one of those 
skirmishes which had been constantly fought for three or four days previously, 
and but one regiment, the 103rd Penna., was ordered out to support the pickets. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 21 

It marched quickly along- the WilHamsburg road to the edge of the wood, think- 
ing that a handful of skirmishers would be its only opponents, and almost 
stumbled upon the rebel troops advancing in line of battle. On the instant they 
fired a murderous volley from thousands of muskets at the surprised regiment, 
and one-fifth of its number fell killed and wounded. The remaining soldiers 
were unable to reply, the surprise was too great, and, despite all the efforts of its 
officers, the regiment broke shortly, and completely demoralized, retreated along 
the road it came, being joined on the way by a great many sick. The mass of 
stragglers, as they passed along through Gen. Casey's camp and to Gen. Couch's, 
in the rear, conveyed an exaggerated idea of surprise and defeat. The conduct 
of the 103rd Penna. has been much censured, and scarcely knowing the over- 
whelming disadvantages under which it fought, people at home have spoken 
harshly of it. This is unjust. No regiment in the army, under the circumstances, 
could have done better. Sent forward, as its soldiers supposed, to check the ad- 
vance of a few straggling skirmishers, thirty-two thousand rebels, whose line 
of batde extended far to the right and left, suddenly rush upon it, and, in the 
midst of the surprise, thousands of them fire a deadly volley at it. The rout was 
excusable. Upon such a surprise, veterans would have hastily retreated." 

In 1863, before the congressional committee on the conauct of the war, 
Gen. Casey testified as follows : 

"I desire to make one statement here in justice to the 103rd Regiment. In 
my report I did not do them justice. I am satisfied of that from facts which 
have since come to my knowledge. * * * Xhe enemy say that the head of 
their strong column was really checked by that one regiment and the pickets it 
had been sent out to support." 

The above testimony of Gen. Casey was given early in 1863, long before it 
was possible for him to have seen the Confederate official reports. However, 
evidence came from many sources indicating that the Confederates found a 
great deal of amusement over Gen. McClellan's published dispatches censuring 
Casey's division and giving credit for valiant charges on the enemy, where no 
resistance was made. The official reports of Maj. Gazzam and Gens. Wessells 
and Casey may be discredited by the historian, as they were by the commanding 
general of the army, because they were on the defensive, their troops having 
been the first routed in the battle, but evidence is available today that no fair- 
minded person can question — evidence which corroborates every essential feature 
of these discredited reports — the official reports of the commanders of the Con- 
federate troops who were eye witnesses, at close range, of the action of Casey's 
pickets and the 103rd Penna. Regiment. The first attack on the Federal pickets 
on May 31st was by Garland's brigade, Hill's division, Longstreet's corps. Gen. 
Garland, whose report is published elsewhere in this volume, says the firing of 
the pickets and their supports along his front was so hot that he was forced to 
bring his regiments (which had been ordered to march forward by the right 
flank) into line of battle to support his skirmishers. He says: "We drove the 
enemy out of the woods back into the abatis." The pickets and the 103rd Regi- 
ment were the only Federal troops in the woods in advance of the abatis. 

A brief recapitulation of the action of the 103rd Penna. Regiment in the 
battle of Fair Oaks will show that the Army of the Potomac, as well as the 
nation, owed it commendation rather than censure. Notwithstanding the pickets 
from the Regiment, and the Regiment itself were overwhelmingly attacked, they 
not only gave the alarm, but held the enemy in check until two lines of battle 
were formed by the regiments of the division ; one along the intrenchments, 
and the other a quarter of a mile in advance, along the east side of the abatis ; 
that the stand the Regiment made in the woods against the enemy was sufficient 
to show that the attack of the enemy was formidable enough to have attracted the 



22 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

attention of all the troops oi the Fourth Corps, if it did not that of Gens. Heintzel- 
man and McClellan. 

The Regiment bivouacked in rear of the intrenchments near Savage Station, 
during the night of May 31, remaining there, in line of battle, until the 
morning of June 4, when at four o'clock in the morning, it started towards the 
rear, through a heavy rain, causing the men to wade knee deep at times through 
pools of water. One stream was flowing so swiftly, that before the men could 
cross it, ropes had to be stretched on which to cling in fording it. 

On Sunday night, June i, while the Regiment lay back of the intrenchments 
near Savage Station, it experienced the incipient stage of an army night stam- 
pede. The Regiment was lying down in Hne of battle with muskets stacked at 
the feet of the men. Some animals had broken loose and trampling on some 
troops in front of the Regiment, men came rushing back on a run, upsetting 
gun stacks and trampling on the sleeping men. The bayonet of a musket coming 
in contact with a sleeping soldier, he called out, when he awakened, that he 
would surrender. As it was pitch dark it was bewildering in the extreme to 
know just what to do, and it was some time before the officers of the Regiment, 
although endeavoring in the darkness to get the men into line, knew what caused 
the excitement. Some of the men waking out of a sound sleep and finding men 
running to the rear started also, but soon came to their senses and groped their 
way back, although a few did not stop until they reached the Chickahominy. 
This little episode was of lasting benefit to all who experienced it, for it demon- 
strated beyond cavil, the importance of remaining with the standard of the 
Regiment. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Seven Days' Battles — From White Oak Swamp to Harrison's 

Landing. 

(From June 4 to July 31, 1862.) 

On June 4, Wessells' brigade was assigned to a position at Poplar Hill, com- 
manding the crossings of White Oak Swamp, relieving a brigade of Hooker's 
division. This was the extreme left of the Army of the Potomac, a position the 
brigade occupied until the army moved towards the James River. Large details 
were made daily for picket duty. The men were now literally living ''out of 
doors." Having lost their knapsacks and all their clothing, except what they 
were wearing at the time of the battle of Fair Oaks, their camp equipage all 
gone, without blankets or tents, they were, indeed, in a pitiable condition. With- 
out a change of underclothing — in fact, he was fortunate who had any — every 
one, both officers and enlisted men, became infested with body lice. Owing to 
these conditions and the miasma from the sw^amp and impure drinking water, 
there was an epidemic of disease, and during most of the time the Regiment was 
stationed here a large percentage of both officers and men was unable for duty. 
This compelled those who kept in good health to be constantly busy performing 
the various functions of their respective ranks. The unjust strictures passed on 
Casey's troops subjected the division to constant drill when not on picket or 
fatigue duty. 

By order of Gen. McClellan, under date of June 7, Casey's division (O. R. 
Sec. i', Vol. XI, part 3, page 220) was consolidated into two brigades, Brig. 
Gen. H. M. Naglee commanding one, and Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells the other 
This consolidation gave Wessells' brigade four additional regiments, making 
eight regiments in all, as follows : 

8ist New York, 85th New York, 92nd New York, 96th New York, 98th 
New York, 85th Pennsylvania, loist Pennsylvania, 103rd Pennsylvania. (O. 
R. Sec. I, Vol. XI, part 2, page 29.) 







Capt. S. P. Townsend 
(Co. C). 
I C'ommani'ied the pickets 
ih-At openeil tlie liattle of 
Fail- 0:ik.- • 




Sergt. R. M. Dunn 
iCo. C). 





2d Lieut. B. H. Scott 
(Co. C). 




1st Sergt. W. S. Cochran 
(Co. C). 




Capt. Albert Fahnestock 
(Co. C). 




Sergt. S. M. Evans 
(Co. C). 



"■-If 'b.A^^'k'^:^^^^ 



^-.^M 




Corp. Geo. W. Pifer 
Co. C). 



Corp. L. S. Dickey 
(Co. C). 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 23 

On June 24, Brig. Gen. John J. Peck, who had commanded a brigade of 
Couch's division, reheved Gen. Casey of the command of the division. Im- 
mediately thereafter the activities of the men were increased ; digging- rifle-pits, 
slashing timber, on camp or picket guard, and at drill. Heretofore the fortifica- 
tions had been planned to resist attack from the direction of the swamp. Early 
in the morning of June 27 the Regiment began digging rifle pits facing in the 
opposite direction. This was an enigma to the men and they manifested no zeal 
in the w^ork. To build intrenchments to repel an attack from the direction of the 
position of their own army, regarded by them as invincible against any force the 
enemy could hurl against' it, caused universal disgust and general fault finding, 
and many attributed it to be a matter of discipline on the part of the new division 
commander. When the intrenchments were completed and the Regiment as- 
signed a position back of them, and the continuous heavy roar of musketry and 
artillery made it evident that the right wing of the army was heavily engaged 
with the enemy, even then it seemed a useless and unnecessary precaution. It 
was the prevailing opinion among the men that McClellan was assaulting the 
enemy's fortifications in front of Richmond, and so great was their confidence 
in his military skill and the invincibility of his army that when rumor came that 
his army was being driven back few gave credit to it, and when it became evident 
that the army was, in fact, moving away from the enemy, there were many who 
persisted that it was a coup de main of McClellan's and they predicted the fall 
of Richmond within a week. The intrenchments were hardly completed when a 
heavy detail was made from the Regiment and put to work building a road 
through White Oak Swamp. 

Early in the morning of June 28, Wessells' brigade broke camp and crossed 
White Oak Swamp in the direction of the James River. The crossing of the 
swamp was tedious and difficult, the road being in poor condition and had to be 
put in order so the artillery and commissary's and quartermaster's supplies could 
follow. Late that afternoon the brigade bivouacked on the Charles City road 
at a place known as the "Blacksmith Shop." Although it was late in the after- 
noon when a halt was made for the night, a distance of not to exceed five miles 
had been covered. An incident of the day is worthy of note to show one pliase 
of soldier life. Jesse Stephens, a private of Co. G, was ill and excused from duty. 
When orders were given to break camp he asked the Regimental surgeon for an 
ambulance as he said he was not able to march. His request was refused, and 
made the subject of jest, because Stephens was a man of good physique. His 
company was on picket duty at the time and did not accompany the Regiment on 
this march so that he was allowed to shift for himself during the day as best 
he could. Immediately after arms had been stacked for the night, and the de- 
tails for picket duty had been made, the writer started to take a survey of the 
neighborhood with the view of having a change of menu for supper. It may be 
proper to state here that irrespective of prohibitory orders, there were always 
some men in all companies, at the end of a day's march in a new countr}"-, if 
darkness did not interfere, who made it a rule to visit the surrounding farms 
and plantations, the chicken house being the principal objective point. The 
w^riter had gone but a few yards on an expedition of this kind, when his attention 
was attracted by a group of soldiers in the direction he was going, gazing at 
.some object "at the base of a tree. The writer paused to take a look at the object, 
which proved to be a soldier, and just as he did so one of the men who had 
been there before he arrived, lifted two old-fashioned copper cents from the 
eyelids, and the writer recognized the prostrate soldier as Jesse Stephens of Co. 
G, who had made his last march and lain down to sleep until the great reveille is 
sounded. Jesse Stephens had been recruited at Tarentum, Pa., by Lieut. Wm. H 
Irwin, and had a wife and several children. The venerable Mark Stephens of 
Tarentum, who is still living at this writing, is an elder brother. 



24 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

The next forenoon, June 29, a squadron of Confederate cavalry made a dash 
into Peck's camp, but preparations had been made for such a visit and they were 
welcomed by a salute from a battery of artillery charged with canister shot. 
Quite a number of the enemy were killed, including the major in command, and 
some 25 or 30 prisoners were taken, among whom was Capt. Ruffin, a member 
of the Confederate Congress. Not a man was either killed or wounded on the 
Federal side. The brigade lay in this position all day in readiness to repel an 
attack which seemed to have been anticipated by those in command. The men, 
however, were in constant expectation of receiving orders to advance towards 
Richmond. Later in the day, when the troops from other divisions passed 
towards the James River, contiicting opinions prevailed ; one that the army was 
in retreat, and the other that McClellan was executing a flank movement. The 
stories received from those who had participated in the engagement of the day 
before were also conflicting, some claiming that the enemy had been badly 
whipped, while others were very much depressed and said that the enemy had 
driven the right wing of the army from its position. About six o'clock in the 
evefiing the Regiment was ordered to move towards the James River by a cross 
road. The distance covered during the night did not exceed six or seven miles, 
yet the men were constantly on their feet. As the artillery, or commissary wagons, 
came up the men were kept in line on the roadside, and when the road was 
cleared of wagons and artillery, which occurred only at brief intervals, they 
would move, but no faster than the wagons ahead. A halt was made a little 
after daybreak, and after the wagons passed on out of the way a large portion 
of the Army of the Potomac passed the position the Regiment occupied, which 
was not far from Haxall's Landing on the James River. Late in the evening, 
June 30, Wessells' brigade changed position, crossing an open plain, and biv- 
ouacked at the edge of a woods, fronting towards the plain. Capt. John Donaghy's 
account of the movements of the army at this period will interest the survivors 
of the Regiment. He says : 

"On June 25, heavy firing off the right told us that a great battle was being 
fought. Our division was in line ready for action. In the evening we received 
orders to prepare three days' cooked rations. Uneasiness was felt in camp over 
a rumor that Jackson was in our rear. On the next day was fought the first 
great battle of the "Seven Days," away to the right of the army, miles from our 
position. We heard the roar of artillery, and that was all we knew of the action 
at the time. In the evening I was detailed with a working party, and being the 
senior officer commander, I reported at division headquarters and received my 
instructions from Capt. Tyler of the general's staff. The work assigned us was 
felling trees in the swamp in front of our division headquarters. Many of the 
trees were large and the labor required of the men was arduous, having to stand 
in the water as they chopped. While we were so engaged other details were 
digging rifle-pits and constructing abatis. These works were built to face the 
swamp as though the enemy was expected to approach from the west. At eleven 
o'clock I dismissed my men for two hours for dinner. They worked hard and 
well in the afternoon but were unable to complete the work assigned them. At 
four o'clock I called on Gen. Peck and asked to have the men relieved, but he 
said it was important that the trees should be felled, and so the men should be 
kept at work. He said they should have some whisky, and I went to the com- 
missary's tent to procure it, but he denied having any. I was allowed to dismiss 
my men at five o'clock, another detail having been called to finish the work. On 
the morning of the 27th the Regiment was ordered to form fully equipped and 
supplied with rations. It was marched to division headquarters, furnished with 
picks and shovels, and from there it went to a field to work at building a line of 
rifle pits. As one officer to a company could attend to that duty I left Lieut. 
Neely in charge while Lieut. Kelly, of Co. H, and I wandered about picking 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 25 

blackberries. While we were engaged in that peaceful occupation we could hear 
the booming of artillery to the right. The battle of Gaines Mill was then in 
progress. In the afternoon Sergt. Rimer and I went to bathe in a small stream, 
but came back to camp in a hurry on learning that the Regiment was formino-; 
but it was only to resume work on the rifle pits. The colonel urged the men 
to put in "hard licks'' while they were at it and worked them in reliefs of half 
an hour each. The work was hardly completed when the tools were taken 
away to be used at some other point. At the battle of White Oak Swamp, 
fought on June 28, those works were occupied by the enemy, while our forces 
were across the swamp where the rebels were expected to be ; at least we were 
so informed, for we did not participate in that fight. 

'"On Saturday, the 28th, we were aroused before daylight by the sound of 
heav7 musketry and we got up prepared to "fall in," but as no' orders to that 
effect came, we lay down again. At roll call we received marching orders, and 
after a hurried breakfast, formed and marched to near the bridge crossing the 
swamp over which troops were marching. The whole army seemed to be on the 
move, and it was hours before our turn came to cross. Then we marched a few 
miles and halted to the right of the Charles City road, where we watched the 
troops that were passing the whole day long. I spoke to many old friends and 
heard their stories of the hard fighting of the last few days ; 'among them was 
Dill, who had lost his regiment, or the regiment had lost'^him. We did much 
surmising as to the object of the move the Army was making, some said we were 
flanking Richmond. Dill's account of the destruction of valuable stores at the 
camp of his division made the movement look very like a retreat, but still we 
hoped it would end in the capture of Richmond, where we could spend the 
Fourth of July in triumph. At one time during the day we heard sudden and 
rapid musketry, firing quite near our position. "Fall in," was heard on all sides 
and we rushed to arms. All was excitement for a while and it was supposed the 
enemy was advancing upon us. By the time the troops were formed and ready 
the firing had ceased and a detachment of our cavalry came in with some cap- 
tured horses, having encountered and scattered a small force of rebel cavalry. 
At another time an alarm was created by a runaway mule with a rickety wagon 
rattling at his heels. 

"We slept that night by the roadside, and in the morning found the road 
still full of marching troops. McClellan and staff passed along. They stopped 
at an officer's tent near us and I saw "Little Mac" "take something" ; it was not 
Richmond. He seemed to be in good spirits, and I took that as an indication 
that all was going well with the army. As his staff rode by one of his officers 
asked us what troops we were, and the major answered "Casey's Skedadlers, 
sir." He was thinking of the bad name McClellan had given the division. 

"A herd of cattle said to number 25,000 was drawn along, and where it was 
possible it moved in the fields alongside the road. We marched at sunset. Capt. 
Zink remained behind, sick, I was not well but did not think of stopping. The 
night was beautiful, but our march was very unsteady and painfully slow, 
consisting of short marches and long halts. I carried a rubber blanket, keeping 
it ready to throw down and rest upon when we halted, for my limbs were so sore 
that I could not stand without suffering. The soreness resulted, I suppose, from 
my using blue ointment against an enemy that was very common among us at that 
time. On these long halts the men would discuss the probable intention of our 
commander or growl at the slowness of our movement. Stories were told and 
songs were sung. A tune hummed by one would be taken up by others until 
nearly a whole company would be singing in concert. From singing there would 
be a change off to whistling; a music that is not to be despised. As the night 
wore on and the men became tired the music was given up. the fence comers 
and the roadsides were crowded by dark objects that you might take to be lo"-s, 



26 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

until the colonel would call out "Attention, Battalion !" Quickly the men would 
be on their feet, the ranks would be formed and the column moving- on. We went 
into camp after daylight in a grove of small pines, having marched not more than 
six miles during the night. We were not far away from a battle that was raging 
at the rear. The men lay down to rest and the sun came out very hot. It seems 
strange that when a battle was being waged so near "mustering for pay"' would 
be thought of, but we went through the form, and I was kept busy for some 
time making the rolls of ovr company. About 3 p. m. we marched towards the 
conflict, which was still in progress. We moved about considerably on the roads 
in the rear of the fighting, and were finally posted as a support to artillery held 
in reserve near the James River." 

During the forenoon of June 30, McCIellan's headquarters were pitched 
near Wessells' brigade. Here the writer had an excellent opportunity to ob- 
serve the demeanor of the commanding general of the army in what must have 
been to him the most critical period in his military career. Several large tents 
were pitched in a shady nook, in which maps were spread on portable tables to 
which the general and staff were constantly referring. Aides and orderlies 
were arriving and departing as fast as horses could trot or gallop delivering mes- 
sages to and from subordinate commanders. These attended to, Gen. McClellan 
would again resume the interrupted conversation, or the examination of a map. 
The thunder of cannon and the incessant roar of musketry which had hardly 
ceased during daytime for nearly a week gave evidence that the enemy was 
pressing his rear guard, yet he manifested no anxiety or doubt as to the out- 
come. i\t times he was serious in manner and always constantly engaged, but 
during conversation with those surrounding him his countenance was frequently 
wreathed in smiles. To the on-looker there was no indication that the command- 
ing general had any doubt as to the result of the battle then raging but a few 
miles away. 

Wessells' brigade would have been sent into action on the 30th had Gen. 
McCIellan's aide-de-camp, Alaj. Hammerstein, been able to have found Gen. 
Peck. The next day Maj. Hammerstein called on Gen. Peck and handed him 
the following note : 

"An order for General Peck to move on the evening of June 30 one brigade 
up for action was in my possession but was not delivered because his position 
was not known to me. I could not look longer for him because I had to move 
other troops and knew that his other brigade was already in position." (O. R. 
Sec. I, Vol. XI, part 3, page 284). 

In the evening of June 30, the brigade moved across the open plain or field 
and bivouacked at the edge of a woods. On July i, the brigade again changed 
position, being placed in line of battle and for defense near the road to Har- 
rison's Landing, the line being formed so as to defend the several wagon trains 
of the army, which were parked back of our line of battle, and in support of the 
reserve artillery of the Army of the Potomac. This line was formed under the 
personal supervision of Gen. Keyes and Gen. McQellan and was the extreme right 
of the army. The artillery was placed back of a rail fence which was fringed on 
both sides 'with bushes of sufficient height to conceal both the artillery and its 
support, with an immense open plain extending some five or six hundred yards 
in front. To the rear of this line were parked all the wagon trains of all the 
other divisions of the army and a herd of cattle consisting of many thousand 
head. While in this position the men gazed with unusual delight at the mammoth 
sizzling missiles of destruction, whirling through the air from the gim boats on 
the James River. The brigade held this position until after the enemy had retired 
from the field of battle. Shortly after midnight, or just at the beginning of 
July 2, Wessells' brigade was formed in line of battle for defense across the 
road leading from Malvern Hill to Harrison's Landing and perpendicular to it 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 27 



not across the road but on either side of it, for while the line was forming 

the road was full of artillery, infantr}% or cavalr}^ already retreating from the 
battlefield of Malvern Hill to find a safer retreat some miles away at Harrison's 
Landing. The right of the 103rd rested near the road. While in this position 
the entire army, including wagon trains, passed Wessells' brigade of Casey's 
old division, now commanded by Gen. Peck. These men who had been made the 
butt of the entire army because of an unjust dispatch, had the safe-keeping of this 
same army in its hands from the assaults of a victorious foe. During the latter 
hours of the night, rain began to fall and continued for several hours. A little 
before noon, after all the troops, including even the cavalry, had passed the point 
occupied by Wessells' brigade, the latter took up its line of march as the rear 
guard of the Grand Army of the Potomac. Col. Wm. W. Averill of the 3rd 
Penna. Cavalry, who was the last to retire with his command, says, in his official 

report : 

"T found Brig. Gen. Wessells in excellent position with his brigade, and a mile 
further on Brig. Gen. Naglee, with a second line. Considering our rear perfectly 
secure, I passed through their lines with my wearied forces and came to this 
camp.'' (O. R. Sec. i, Vol. XI, part H p. 192.) 

After moving nearly two miles, the brigade passed Naglee's brigade of 
Peck's division, and formed in line of battle, a short distance in rear of it. Naglee 
then passed on, leaving Wessells' brigade, a battery of artiller>' and a small 
battalion of cavalry to bring up the rear. Owing to the muddy condition of 
the road, the wagon trains moved very slowly. Within one hundred yards of 
the western boundary of the position selected for the army, where the road from 
Malvern Hill passes to Harrison landing, was a deep ravine called Kimminger's 
Creek which became almost impassable by the morning of July 3, as only one 
wagon could cross at a time, with over a thousand wagons yet to cross, and the 
creek, instead of having running water, was a vast pool of tough mud, at least 
two feet in depth. A force of the enemy consisting of cavalry, artillery and 
infantry kept constantly in sight following closely. At one time it looked like the 
teamsters would be stampeded when the enemy began shelling the wagon train. 
The only thing that prevented a general stampede was the depth and toughness 
of the mud. which made it impossible for the teams to move any faster than 
they had been doing. The panic only caused a few of the drivers to desert their 
wagons, and an unnecessary beating of the horses. Wessells' line of march was 
not a great distance from the James River and the gun boats gave notice to the 
enemy that they were ready for action by throwing an occasional shell over it. 
It was some time after dark on the evening of July 3, when the last wagon crossed 
the ravine. In his official report of this event, Gen. Peck says : 

"The opinion is ventured that the history of military operations afl^ords no 
instance where a train of like magnitude and value was moved so great a dis- 
tance in the presence of the enemy, and in the face of so many material obstacles, 
with so trifling a loss." (O. R. Sec. i. Vol. XI, part 2, p. 215.) 

Col. W. W. H. Davis in his history of the 104th Penna. says of the retreat 
from Malvern Hill: 

"The disordered army poured down in a living stream toward the river. 
The moment the retreat was resumed, organization, in a great measure, appeared 
to be at an end, and the troops swept over the country without regard to roads 
or order. They made short cuts across fields and through woods to the place 
of destination, and the incessant discharges of muskets and rifles resembled a 
fusilade with the enemy. There was a mingling of companies, regiments, 
brigades, and divisions. It began to rain in the morning and continued to pour 
down in torrents, at which time the rear guard stood in line or maneuvered 
to protect the retreat. The movement of so many thousand men and wagons 
over the roads and neighboring fields, after the rain had fallen, converted them 



28 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

into an almost impassable quagmire, and to march was to literally wade through 
the mud. * * * j^ the morning the 104th was sent to reinforce Gen. Wes- 
sells to whose brigade it was temporarily attached. Dufour says: 'In retreat the 
rear guard becomes the most important body and should be composed of the best 
troops, or those which have suiTered least. No other service can give more fame 
to a body of troops, where it exposes itself to danger, privation and toil, less for 
itself than the remainder of the army.' " 

At dark on the evening of June 3, the entire army was in position on lines 
which the commanding general considered could soon be made impregnable, with 
the exception of the rear guard which now consisted of Wessells' brigade, re- 
inforced by two regiments, the 104th Penna. and the 56th N. Y., a battalion of the 
Eighth Penna. Cavalry and Battery E, First Penna. Light Artillery, commanded 
by Capt. Theo. Miller. As soon as the last wagon had crossed the ravine the 
battery of artillery followed and then the 56th and 8ist New York. As each 
regiment crossed it was assigned permanent position in the line of defense, along 
the bluflF east of the ravine. Absolute silence prevailed among the troops in falling 
back, all commands being given in whispers, the field officers passing along the 
line to the company officers, and they in turn to the men. The 92nd New York 
and 104th Penna. were the next regiments to retire, who, after the interval of 
nearly an hour, were followed by the 85th Penna., loist Penna., and 98th New 
York. These were followed by the 96th New York, the 85th New York and the 
103d Penna. Gen. Wessels in his report says: 

'Tt was now about ten o'clock p. m. The pickets were carefully withdrawn 
and the rear guard completed the crossing without the slightest accident at about 
II o'clock, and the whole brigade in line of battle facing the rear." 

It was some time after midnight when the 103d crossed the ravine. Two 
hours must have been consumed from the time the Regiment began to move to 
the rear before it got into position. For a time the way was blockaded by the 
regiment preceding it, and finally when it reached the ravine the men had to 
undergo the most exasperating experience of'the war. The mud was more than 
knee deep and some of the men in order to extricate themselves had to throw 
away everything, knapsacks, guns and accouterments. It seemed that for minutes 
no progress was made. The night was dark as pitch, nothing being visible 
in the firmament or the horizon. There was a quietude that seemed ominous, and 
althoug^h the men had been repeatedly cautioned not to speak, cursing could be 
heard along the ranks in whispers. However, after once freed from this 
predicament, the Regiment was placed in position within a hundred yards from 
the quagmire which had held it for so long and here it remained until August 
16. Maj. Gen. Keyes in his official report (0. R. Sec. i. Vol. XI, part 2, pages 
192-195) says: 

"As the day advanced the continuous deluging rains rendered it next to im- 
possible to get forward the trains over Kimmingers Creek, which is the boundary 
of our present camp. It was found necessary to park some 1,200 wagons as they 
came up on the other side of the creek, and it was not until after dark of the 3d 
instant that by extraordinary exertions the last of the wagons was brought over. 
Brig. Gen. Wessells with his brigade, assisted by Miller's Battery and a party of 
Gregg's cavalry, remained to guard the wagons and to defend them against the 
enemy, approaching with cavalry and artillery. After firing a few shell the 
enemy left upon being saluted with a few 100 pounders from the gun boats. I 
do not think more vehicles or more public property was abandoned on the march 
from Turkey Bridge than would have been left in the same state of the roads if 
the armv had been moving towards the enemy instead of away from him ; and 
when it is understood that all the carriages and teams belonging to the army 
stretched out in one line would not extend far from 40 miles, the energy and 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE - 29 

caution necessary for their safe withdrawal from the presence of an enemy 
vastly superior in numbers will be appreciated." 
Maj. Gen. Peck in his official report says: 

'•Gen. Wessells has labored most faithfully night and day since I joined 
the division, and displayed the greatest interest in the service under very critical 
circumstances. In the midst of difficulties and dangers his judgment seemed 
most reliable. * * * Col. Lehmann, 103d Penna., and Col. Howell, »5tli 
Penna. are meritorious officers, who have rendered the country good service and 
exert a salutary influence upon their troops. * * * I desire to thank every 
officer and soldier in the command for the cheerful and faithful manner m which 
they have discharged duties incessant and arduous by day and by night. Chicka- 
hominv and White Oak Swamp will bear evidence of their industry for genera- 
tions While the late severe service has not been so brilliant as that which fell to 
other troops it will ever be deemed honor enough to have been a member of 
that division which held the troops of Jackson at bay across the Chickahommy 
* * * and covered the rear safely during the great strategic movement 
from Turkey Creek to Harrison's Point." (O. R. Sec. i, Vol. XI, part 2, pages 
215-219.) 

On the morning of July 4 camp was marked out, and details made to slash 
timber in front and erect breastworks. While the men were engaged m preparing 
or eating dinner, they were quickly called into line and were reviewed by Gen. 
McClellan. The enthusiasm his appearance aroused among the troops was ample 
evidence that the results of the past week had not in the least diminished their 
confidence in the commanding general of the army. 

As soon as the fields became dry enough the division was kept constandy 
at drill under the supervision of Gen. Peck. With details for camp and picket 
guard fatigue duty, daily drill, making the camp comfortable, digging wells, etc., 
there was little time for monotony. On July 8 the following circular was issued : 
"Headquarters Army of the Potomac : Camp near Harrison's Landing, July 
8, TR62. 

His excellency, the President of the United States, will visit the troops of 
this army this afternoon, beginning at 5 o'clock, with Sumner's corps, followed 
by Keyes', Heintzelman's, Franklin's and Porter's Corps in order named. He will 
be received with appropriate honors. By command of Maj. Gen. McClellan. 
S. Williams, A. A. G." 

As President Lincoln passed along in front of the lines he was preceded 
by Gen. McClellan. He was dressed in the costume familiar to the people by 
his portraits, and his angular, attenuated figure seemed intensified by the high 
stovepipe hat he wore. The men had but a glimpse of his features as his horse 
was moving at a brisk trot, but the glimpse was sufficient to make a lasting im- 
pression, and although forty-seven years have elapsed since that summer day, yet 
the features of this most wonderful man remain in the memory of the writer as 
though the occurrence were a matter of a few days ago. The position of the 
Regiment was perhaps a half mile north of the James River, and until wells were 
sunk in the camp at a depth of 50 or 60 feet, water was carried from a spring 
about half way to the river. The James River afforded a good bathing point 
and the boys availed themselves of every opportunity to indulge in that pastime. 
On the night of July 31, the Confederate General French, with the Chief 
of Artillerv of^the Army of Northern Virginia, planted 43 guns on the south 
bank of the James River and opened fire on the shipping m the river and in 
the camps of the Federal troops. While the cannonading was quite brisk for a 
couple of hours the loss on either side was insignificant. To prevent a repetition, 
on the following day a force w^as moved to the south bank of the James River. 



30 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

CHAPTER VI. 

From Harrison's Landing to Suffolk — Bl.\ckwater Reconnoissances. 

(From July 31 to Dec. 4, 1862.) 

On July 25 and 26, Maj. Gen. H. W. HaJleck, who had been appointed gen- 
eral-in-chief of the armies of the United States on July 11, visited Gen. McQellan 
at Harrison's Landing discussing the general situation with him. Halleck was 
satisfied then to have the James River continue to be the base of the Army 
of the Potomac, and left McClellan with that understanding. But not 
being able to satisfy the commander of the xA.rmy of the Potomac as to the num- 
ber of reinforcements, on August 3, ordered the removal of the army to Acquia 
Creek. On Sunday, Aug. 10, orders were given to pack knapsacks with every- 
thing superfluous to a forced march, and they were put on transports. This action 
was an indication that "something would be doing" soon and the prevailing idea 
among the men was that the army would soon be advancing on Richmond. Aug. 
14, the Regiment was ordered out as support to the picket line, and returned to 
camp on the afternoon of the 15th, to find great commotion in camp, as orders had 
been issued to the army to make preparations to move. Shortly after day break, 
Aug. 16, the Regiment marched out of the fortifications with the brigade, mov- 
ing with great caution as if anticipating an attack. The first day's march was 
not long, and over ground that had been but little traversed by either army, op- 
portunity for successful foraging was the best that the Peninsula had afforded. 
Vast fields of corn, eight or ten feet in height, lined either road side, and it was 
in that stage when ''roasting ears" were most prolific and in their milkiest condi- 
tion. Irish potatoes were also abundant and clusters of peach trees, full of fruit 
beginning to ripen, were in the neighborhood of every farm house to tempt the 
forager to make some excuse to get out of ranks. At three o'clock, Aug. 17, the 
men were aroused and ordered to quickly breakfast and as soon as day began to 
break the march eastward was resumed at a much more rapid pace than on the 
previous day. Gen. McClellan and staff accompanied by a large body of cavalry 
passed the Regiment during the day. The general and his retinue were covered 
from head to foot with a thick coating of dust, making it impossible for the 
troops to recognize him until at close range. But when he was recognized he 
returned the enthusiastic greeting he received from the men as they stood by the 
roadside to let the cavalcade pass, with his pleasant smile. His demeanor indi- 
cated that the care of a large army sat lightly upon him, but in all probability the 
smiling countenance was but a mask to a heavy heart through chagrin and dis- 
appointment at being compelled to move his army from what he regarded as the 
best point from which to attack the capital of the Confederacy. It was in this 
garb of dust that the men of Casey's old division beheld for the last time the 
commanding general of the army who so bitterly wronged them. His frequent 
subsequent requests to have these same troops sent to his command in Maryland, 
is evidence that in his opinion they were not to be despised, even if they were the 
rawest troops in his army. Capt. Donaghy describes this march as follows : 

"That march presented many picturesque scenes ; one that I noticed was the 
horsemen dashing along the dusty road as though they were flying among clouds, 
for the dust shut out for a time all sight of the solid earth beneath. When the 
troops were halted in the road the scene was striking. The road was over shoe 
deep with a whitish dust, and the grass, the trees, and fences were all covered 
with the same tint ; the troops were looking like millers. When a glimpse of 
distant fields was caught the bright green showed with telling contrast." 

During the afternoon, Aug. 17, the Regiment crossed the Chickahominy, not 
a great distance from its mouth, on a pontoon bridge, 2,000 feet in length, and 
after a march of twenty miles in all during the day, went into bivouac late in 




Capt John Donaghy 
'Co. F). 




1st Lieut. J. H. Chambers 
(Co. F). 




Sergt. John H. White 
• Co. F). 



Priv. Theodore G. Sloan 
(Co. F). 




Capts. Donaghy and 
Fahnestock. 
(Reproduced from an am- 
brctype taken at Xorfolk. 
Va.. lall of 1SG2, when regi- 
ment was en route to Suf- 
folk.) 




Sutler Adolph Krebs. 



Asst. Sutler C. L. Straub. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 31 

the evening. The next morning, Aug. i8, the Regiment was on the march before 
daybreak, and passing through WilHamsburg, bivouacked five miles east of it. 
The woman who had predicted the return of the Yanks faster than they ad- 
vanced was not in evidence, but had she been, she would, no doubt, have been 
jubilant over the literal fulfillment of her prophecy of less than four months 
before. A few minutes after six o'clock, Aug. 20, the Regiment was rapidly 
trudging towards Yorktown, passing through it, and halting a short distance 
east of the town, where it went into bivouac until Aug. 24. Nothing of moment 
occurred during the three days' stop here. The boys put in their leisure time about 
the York River, gathering oysters, clams, etc., having a respite from the arduous 
work that was their lot when advancing westward on the Peninsula. The Army 
of the Potomac had left the Peninsula, a portion of Keyes' Corps, being left to 
guard the approaches to Fortress Monroe. Early in the morning of Aug. 24, 
the Regiment started to Fort Monroe, passing Big Bethel, the scene of one of 
the first battles of the war. As the road was free from obstructions the march 
of 25 miles was made with comparative ease, and at four o'clock the men were 
busily engaged arranging their humble habitations, a short distance from the fort. 
The duty assigned the Regiment was the guarding of hospitals, bridges, com- 
missary and quartermaster supplies, etc. Numerous details were made daily 
from the Regiment as escorts to the dead, whose deaths occurred at the hospitals ; 
all of whom were buried with military honors. For such duty, the Regiment, both 
officers and men, were in a sorry plight. Their uniforms were ragged and 
frayed, and the men presented a vivid contrast from troops generally assigned 
to garrison duty. The men who had succeeded in getting new clothing at Har- 
rison's Landing, anticipating a rough time for a few days had packed their 
best clothing in their knapsacks, and these were entirely ruined in transit. In 
fact, it took a few days after the arrival of the Regiment here for some of 
the men to even act as though they were within the shades of civilization, as it 
was an ordinary event, immediately after the arrival of Wessells' brigade, to 
"hold up" wagons at any hour of the day, even with hospital supplies. The 
troops, however, guilty of this breach of discipline were not all from the 103d 
Regiment, but it furnished a fair quota the first day or two, but after details 
from the Regiment were made to suppress such depredations they immediately 
ceased. The men had a fine time when off duty, fishing for crabs and oysters and 
the sea food and sea air with plenty of fresh vegetables, soon told on the physique 
of the troops. Capt. Donaghy, referring to army life here, says : 

"We were pretty comfortably situated as we were. Our meals were im- 
proved by fine oysters and fresh fish, and we enjoyed the sea breezes at a season 
when they were most delightful. On one occasion we got too much of a breeze 
at one time, and it came so suddenly that it upset some of our wagons and sent 
Sibley and shelter tents flying in the air. Our own tent was blown down about 
our heads, and so was the colonel's, and he was held fast in the wreck until 
rescued. At the same time the rain came down in torrents ; no one was seriously 
hurt, but we looked well to our tent pins thereafter. Fort Monroe, near which 
we were camped, seemed to us at that time impregnable. It covered seventy 
acres. I had never seen a fort of that kind, and I was surprised to find that the 
interior was like a beautiful park; laid out with paths and lawns, and in the 
center was a graceful, spreading tree. Around about the sides of the enclosure 
were trees and comfortable looking quarters that almost hid the massive walls 
and grim engines of destruction that were ever ready for their work. Outside 
of the fort on the beach were mounted two of the great guns of the day. They 
were fifteen inch base and had been made in Pittsburgh. They were called 
the "Union," and the "Lincoln." The latter had been known as the "Floyd Gun," 
but for sufficient reasons had been rechristcned." 

About noon on Sept. 18, the Regiment embarked on a transport at Fort Mon- 



:« 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

roe for Norfolk, and after a brief stop in that city, boarded a train of cars for 
Suffolk, twenty-three miles distant from Petersburg, so long the theater of war, 
when Grant was in command of the army. 

Speaking of the Regiment's stop in Norfolk Capt. Donaghy says: 

"We halted in the street to await a train that would take us to our destina- 
tion, Suffolk. As we had some time to spare, Capt. Fahnestock and I strolled 
about seeing the town. Most of the business transacted in the place was caused 
by the presence of the troops and was carried on by Northern men. The street 
pavements, which once had been worn with trafffc, were then so little used that 
grass was growing up between the stones." 

A reproduction of an ambrotype of Capts. Fahnestock and Donaghy, taken 
at Norfolk at this time, appears on another page. 

The Regiment arrived at Suffolk about dark on Sept. i8 and bivouacked for 
the night near the railroad station, some of the men taking shelter underneath 
ihe freight house, then used as a storehouse for commissary supplies. 

The day after its arrival at Suffolk, Sept. 19, the Regiment was assigned to 
a position not a great distance from the railroad station, remaining there until 
it was moved some distance farther out. On Sept. 26, large details were made 
from the Regiment for fatigue duty, slashing timber, throwing up breastworks, 
etc., a daily task for several weeks. This was a kind of work that the men 
went at reluctantly, and evaded in every possible way. The soldier who evaded 
duty on the march, or on the field of battle, was held in contempt, and derided 
by his comrades, but an evasion of fatigue, or police duty, was regarded as justi- 
fiable, unless in extreme emergency in close proximity to the enemy ; although it 
was not regarded as so great an offense to shirk duty of this kind as what was 
looked upon as m^ore strictly a soldier's duty. Another daily disagreeable feature 
of camp life at Suffolk, regarded as useless by the men, was being called in line 
of battle about four o'clock in the morning and remaining in that position until 
daylight. 

On Thursday, Oct. 26, the monotony of camp life was broken by the appear- 
ance of the paymaster. This event, which came only at long intervals, had a 
tendency to revive the spirits of the men. But before the paymaster had a chance 
to perform his duty an interruption came. When the men got into line they were 
ordered to take three days' rations, and without any explanation the Regiment 
was started on a hurried' march in the direction of the enemy towards Peters- 
burg, commanded by Lieut. Col. Maxwell. A rapid march was kept up until 
three o'clock in the morning when a rest was made until daybreak. After a hur- 
ried breakfast the march was resumed until the advance guard came in contact 
with the enemy. A furious cannonade continued for an hour, when the enemy 
ceased his fire and fell back to a new position. Receiving reinforcements, among 
which were Graham's Petersburg battery, and a rocket battery, the enemy again 
opened fire with great vigor, throwing shot, shell, grape and rockets in great pro- 
fusion. The 13th Indiana was moved down to the bank of the Blackwaater and 
opened fire on the batteries of the enemy and he soon withdrew out of range 
and ceased firing. Gen. Peck, who was in command at Suffolk, was advised as to 
the situation and he ordered the troops to return to camp, inasmuch as the object 
of the expedition, (clearing of the country east of the Blackwater of the Con- 
federates) was accomplished. The Federal loss was two killed, five wounded and 
one missing. Among the wounded was Priv. Edward Rogers of Co. C, who had 
one of his legs shot off by a cannon ball, that ricocheted in front of the Regiment, 
causing quite a number of the men to drop as it passed through the ranks. Lieut. 
Col. Maxwell commanded the Regiment, and though it was his first time to be 
under fire with the Regiment he acted with coolness and rare judgment. From 
the very first Col. Maxwell had enjoyed the confidence and esteem of both ofii- 
cers and men, but his conduct on this occasion proved beyond question that he 



CHRONOLOGICAL XARFLATIVE 

posi.L"n?S"furi„|r sk-^itf ^'H"h",/?,".^* a^ut *^;f :,7,e3 fro. .he 
sumed march towarrif.,™n= f halted there unfl ,o oclock. when it re- 

around soon, and al^ut 8 a. n.. the men receivedl^J^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 

Lehmann, participated in another R1..L ^. ' ^^S^.n^ent, commanded by Col. 

and with V'bnefStmaXd'unttat^fwTcr^^^^^^^^^ 'T'''' '' ^ P" -' 
the enemy was reached. After an artilWv dnH .f k ^ "'u'^ mornmg, when 
loss on the Federal side the trooos r.L S % u^"""^ f"" ^°""' ^'^t^o^t any 

night, Nov. I. Capt Dona4vThn fv.. n .V ^"^°^^' ''"'^^"g" ^^"^P ^^out mid- 
''ak^, ^ T^^ ^ ^S^^y- wno was on this reconnoissance c;av<; ' 

^; ^^Jhet^ :^ cras: jxjsr^i-i;?^^^^^ 

the rebel outposts, and we were ne BlackJat'e r '"tI?1 "i! "^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 
and opened fire with shell, and fired\^^ h .re.t ;.nM> /"'? ^°^ ^"^^ Position 
The flash of fire from theVuns wouirfn/Jn f^'?'^,^ 1°' ^^"^ ^^'^ a" hour, 
showing the gunners at thel? wo k i,d the^in^ f '• ^l^^' "^ '^' '''^' ^^^^nd, 
we would follow with our eyesX siz^ n.I coi^etr? ^"^^"^O^ .^"PPorts, and then 
m fiery fragments over the tovvn wh rh" '° 'J"" '^'" ""^'^ ^^^^- ^ould bur.t 

mtervened, but we could heir the c ash Tf Z "°S''f' ^^ " ^^"^ ^^ -^^ds 
and m the intervals between the shots we rn'iH T""" 'k '^ "P°" ^^^ buildings, 
children and the stern comx^Ld of soldie s When fhe' fi'' ""^ "^ "°"^^" ^^^ 
back the way we had come, and the rebeis fired ./ ^^^"g-^ceased we marched 
no harm. We were not at all satisfied S nor Drond"^/^'"' °^^' "^- ^^' ^'^ 
but we regarded it as a necessarv demon f;a?ion ^f so one-sided an affair, 

forces, as it doubtless was. Ou? expe?tatT^^^^^^ "^1 '^"'^ "^'^'^ °^ <^"'- 

the reserve were not realized, but we had to contin,? "^ ''^'" '"' §^^^ back to 
we were within twelve mile, of Suffofk m.i^ continue our wear)^ march until 

miles without halting long"ent|h1io^'makf:"c^up"of^offt ^'^^^^^^^^ ^^'^^>-- 

day. ^Onl^^:3rf fir! ^orcon^Jde^a^l^held ^'^ ^^^ '^'^ ^^ -Stable 
the Regiment wis called oSt to ex^itm^h ^^^ ■? '^' 'i^^^^^ ^'""^her and 

a httle while-long enough, however^oesap drill ioTth^'V ^" '^^"^ ^^^^ 
At I p. m Nov 7-7 fVi« -D^^- '^/=^^'ipe ariij tor the afternoon 

Blackwater' t"e' expedit on beine fomm LdeH I'' °? ''W'^"'' --"noissance to 
the Federal artille.^ sheMed "e^e^^r fori co^uo^e'nf'l"''"'" .°" *^ '«* 
spinted reception but with a Io.;s of ™,I „ <^o"Ple of hours, and met with a 
expedition to Blackwater in wh kh he nT 'T"'^"^:. '^^' f™'""' and final 
middle of the afternoon,' Sec and aft^r l^'TrT^i ^'" ^"^°'^ ^'x'"' 'he 
unt, 3:30 a. m., when the march' was re ™ed Ah,], "" ™,'" bivouacked 
3 mdes of Blackwater for breakfas? WhHe the cava rv™?n '1"^^ f^'" ^"'hin 
at breakfast, they were charged upon by the' enemV^L " , e , tre""' 17 



34 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

saddles in time to meet it, and not only checked the enemy, but drove them. 
back in confusion, killing lo or 12 of the enemy and capturing twenty more, 
most of whom received saber cuts before they surrendered. The officers of the 
nth Cavalry most conspicuous in this charge were Maj. Stratton and Lieuts. 
Roper and Buttz. A section of the rocket battery, fourteen horses, seven saddles. 
42 rifles and 70 rockets, were captured. The expedition consisted of portions 
of the nth Penna. Cavalry, 39th Illinois, 62 Ohio, 130th X. Y., 6th Mass., 103d 
Penna., 2 Sections of Davis' battery, one Section of Howard's battery, amount- 
ing in all to 3,100 commanded by Col. Spear of the nth Penna. Cavalry. 
Lieut. Col. Maxwell commanded the Regiment on this reconnoissance. The 
Regiment returned to Camp through cold disagreeable rain, reaching quarters 
about 10 p. m., Dec. 3. 

While at Suffolk a quarrel occurred between Surg. Stavely and Col. Lehmann, 
the culmination of a long time friction between them. A house in the limits of 
the Regiment camp was used jointly by the Colonel, and as Regimental hospital. 
Surgeon Stavely forced the Colonel to vacate to make room for the sick. 
This action aroused the ire of the Colonel and he resented it by using some 
not very mild epithets to the Surgeon. The latter preferred charges, which were 
first sent to Gen. Wessells, who disapproved them because of the personal 
rancor, made obvious by the verbiage in which they were written. The Surgeon 
then sent them direct to division headquarters, and Gen. Peck relieved Col. 
Lehmann from duty pending an investigation. This accounts for Col. Lehmann 
not commanding the Regiment on the last Blackwater expedition. Surgeon 
Stavely resigned his position. Col. Lehmann was absent from the Regiment 
for three months, during which time the command of the Regiment devolved 
upon Lieut. Col. Maxwell. 

CHAPTER VIL 

From Suffolk to New Bern — B.\ttles of Kinstom, Whitehall -\nd 

goldsboro. 

(From December 4 to December 28, 1862.) 

On Dec. 4, orders were given to pack knapsacks and store them. Three 
days rations were drawn. At four o'clock, December 5, the Regiment, with 
the rest of Wessells' brigade, left Suffolk via the Summerton road, and marched 
without making a halt until 3:30 p. m., having covered a distance of 23 miles. 
/At 5 o'clock the next morning the march was resumed. Early in the forenoon 
it began to rain and in a little while the roads became muddy, making it very- 
difficult to march. A brief halt was made at Gatesville, but the Regiment went 
two miles beyond the town before bivouacking for the night. However, it 
cleared up in the evening and became quite cool. Resumed march nexi: morning, 
Sunday, Dec. 7, at 9 o'clock, and after wading through mud and water for 
three miles, the brigade came to the Chowan river and boarded the transport 
Nortkerner and started down the Chowan river, reaching New Bern about 
ID p. m., Dec. 8. For some unexplained reason to the men, the Regiment did 
not debark until Tuesday morning, Dec. 9. about 10 o'clock; using the transport, 
Fort Royal, as a tender. Wessells' brigade bivouacked at the outskirts of 
New Bern until Tuesday, Dec. 11. 

Early in the morning of Dec. ii, the men were aroused from their slumbers, 
and after a hurried breakfast, the brigade moved westward towards Goldsboro. 
starting about seven o'clock, preceded by a squadron of the 3d New York Cavalry 
and the 9th New Jersey Infantry, followed by three other brigades, and 40 
pieces of artillery, the entire force aggregating about 11,000 men. Morrison's 
batterv (Battery B, 3d N. Y. Artiller}-), having been assigned to Wessells' 
brigade, the 103d Regiment was assigned to its support. After an advance of 




Capt. A, H. Alexander. Co. A. 
Private John C. Guilier. Co. A 
Private Jacol. Guiiier. Co. A 
Corp. C. G. W. Siover, Co. A 
Private Danie! Barnacle. Co V 
Private Thoma.": J. Calleii. Co. A 
Corp. Joseph Mover. Co A 
Private TVilliar/. tavlor. Co. A 
Private Clarion J. Logue. Co. A. 

Private Lemuei H. Slagle. Co. F. 
1st Lieut. Janie- H. Clianibevp Co F 
Sergrt. John S Moorliead. Co. F 
Capt. F. Smullin. Co. D. 



15. Private Jeremiah "Wvani, Co. D 
le. Private J J. Anthonv. Co. D. 
IT. Private Levi Shreckeiigosi. Co D 
as. Private Samuel W. Hamilton. Co D 
V.K Private Danitrl Bowser. Co D 

20. Private James W, Richardson' Co. A 

21. Corp. John F. Rupert. Co A 

22. Private Cabin B. Alt. Co. A 
2o. Private Isaiah Reese. Co. A 
2-1. Private Helm J. McGill. Co. I 
2o. Private John D. Tagrsart. Co I 
20. Isi Serg-t. Jackson McCov. Co. L 
27. Private Roliert Hooks. Co. D 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 35 

about 14 miles had been made, the road was found to be obstructed by felled 
trees, for a distance of more than a half mile, and the Regiment was ordered to 
go into bivouac for the night. During the night the pioneers removed the 
obstructions and at day break of the 12th the Regiment was again on the 
march. After advancing about four miles the advance came in contact with the 
skirmishers of the enemy, which, for a time, seemed to indicate that the latter 
was in force, and intended to make a stand, but as his force was small, the advance 
troops soon routed him. The next day the enemy made a stand at South West 
Creek, where the main road from New Bern to Kanston crosses the creek. 
An earthwork constructed across the road, and the bridge partially destroyed, 
caused a halt. The enemy opening with a batter}', and Morrison's battery, sup- 
ported by the 103d, was soon brought into action. As soon as the battery of the 
enemy was silenced the Regiment advanced, defiled to the left of the road, and 
crossed the creek on a mill dam, single file, double quick, forming in line on) 
the other side and charging on the position of the battery that had fired on the 
brigade. However, troops which had preceded it by another route, had taken 
possession of a piece of artillery abandoned by the enemy. Three of the enemy's 
dead, one a mere youth of 13 or 14 years, lay in the middle of the road. Before 
sundown the enemy made another stand, and again ^^lorrison's battery, supported 
by the 103d, was called into action, and engaged the enemy until darkness. The 
Regiment went into bivouac in line of battle, large details having been made for 
picket duty. Sunday morning, Dec. 14, 1862, was an ideal morning for winter 
in Eastern North Carolina. The day broke bright and clear, and many of the 
young boys of the 103d would have much preferred the more frigid climate of 
the Keystone state on that particular morning. Before breakfast was ready 
musketr}' firing was already brisk and the Regiment was soon in motion, moving 
in the direction of the firing line. It was evident to every one that seriou^ 
work was ahead. This was made apparent by the litter of playing cards thati 
lined the road sides. However, notwithstanding the enemy's artillery, missiles 
were exploding overhead and the musketry firing giving evidence that a battle 
was raging in front, within three or four hundred yards, some abandoned com- 
missary supplies by the roadside caused a scramble from the boys, a sack of 
coflFee, roasted and ground, ready for steeping, being especially coveted. It was 
at this point the Regiment deployed in line of battle at the edge of the woods in 
which the infantry then engaging the enemy were in position. The Regiment 
took position at right angles to the main road, the left of the right wing resting 
near the right of the road, and the right of the left wing of the Regiment com- 
manded by Capt. Laughlin, resting near the left of the road. Two pieces ofl 
Capt. Morrison's battery took position in the road in the gap between the twa 
wings of the regiment and opened on the enemy, firing with great rapidit}'. The 
92d New York of Wessells' brigade, having been in front of the right wing of 
the 103d engaging the enemy for about an hour. Col. Hunt, the commandingi 
officer, for some reason becoming discouraged, ordered his Regiment to retreat. 
The enemy hearing the command given broke out in loud cheers. When Lieutenant 
John M. Cochran of Co. C. called on the 103d to respond, which was done with 
such vim as to attract and concentrate the fire of the enemy on the right wing 
of the Regiment, When Col. Hunt reached the point where Col. Maxwell was 
standing he requested him to exchange positions, the 103d to advance and engage 
the enemy and the 92d to support the battery. Col. Maxwell responded by saying 
he would cheerfully comply but he would have to receive orders from the proper 
source before leaving the battery. Capt. Andrew Stewart, Jr.. assistant adjutant 
general to Gen, Wessells, having come forward to take observations addressed 
Col. Maxwell, saying, that he would assume the responsibility for ordering the 
103d forward. Instantly, Col. Maxwell gave the command for the Regiment to 
advance and the men started forward briskly until they came to a heavy under- 



36 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

growth and swamp with water varying from one to two feet in depth, and from 
50 to 100 yards in width. As the men emerged from the swamp the fire ofi 
the enemy gave evidence of the two hnes being at close range and orders were 
given to He down and engage the enemy. As the Regiment moved forward from 
the battery and entered the undergrowth and swamp the right and left wings 
diverged from each other, leaving the gap much wider than when separated by 
the section of Morrison's battery. Later this gap was filled by the 45th Mass., 
and loth Conn. ; the colors of the three regiments being closely grouped 
together at the left of the right wing of the 103d. For a time the fire of enemy 
was concentrated on the right wing of the Regiment, evidently due to the three 
stands of colors being so close together. The color bearer of the 103d, Sergt. 
Anthony Spangler, Co. D., received two mortal wounds, one near the brain, and 
the other near the heart. At a time when the firing seemed to be concentrated 
on the center, cheering was heard on both the right and left wings, followe<f 
almost instantly by a lull in the fire from the enemy, and the Regiment was) 
ordered to charge, and as it advanced the firing entirely ceased. A large body 
(495 by official report) of the enemy, immediately in front of the Regiment, had 
hoisted a white flag. Col. Maxwell halted the Regiment to get it properly 
aligned, when he received orders to halt and await the arrival of the artillery. 
Smoke arising from the bridge gave evidence that the enemy had planned to 
destroy it and Col. Gray, with his regiment (96th New York), rushed to the 
bridge and was extinguishing the fire when the colonel was killed. The enemy 
had planted some loaded muskets across the bridge, forming a barricade, and by 
some it was supposed a bullet from one of these fired the fatal shot. It was 
more probable that the fatal bullet came from the enemy's skirmishers on the" 
opposite side of the river, who pluckily continued to fire, until the Federal batteries 
got into position. The loss of the Regiment in this action was 14 killed, and 58 
wounded, seven of the latter receiving mortal wounds, death following within a 
short time. The killed were Corp. Andrew M. Wilson and Privates Joseph P. 
Spangler (color bearer), and Priv. William Wheeler, Co. D. ; Sergt. William M. 
Austin (the latter receiving two fatal shots) and Jacob StifiFey, Co. C; Sergt. An- 
thony Spangler (color bearer), and Priv. William Wheeler, Co. D ; Sergt. William 
M. McElhany, Priv. Michael Wenner, Co. F ; Privates Jackson Boyd, Hiram Reed, 
George H. Wetzel, Co. H. ; Privates James Collingwood, George W. Griffin, 
Patrick Nolan, William Powers, Co. I. The following died of wounds received 
in action at Kinston: Priv. Edward W. Loughner, Co. A., died Dec. 18, 1862; 
Priv. William Sanford, Co. F., died Jan. 12, 1863 ; Priv. Calvin McCoy, Co. I., 
died Dec. 16, 1862 ; Priv. Milo Sankey, Co. I., died Jan. 7, 1863 ; ist Sergt. Joseph 
C. Mapes, Co. K., died Dec. 29; Priv. John Staugle, Co. K., Dec. 29, 1862. 
Lieut. Col. Maxwell, who was in command of the Regiment on this expedition, 
strengthened the good opinion that the officers and men had already formed of 
him by his coolness at the most critical time and by the promptness in moving 
the Regiment forward when the 92d New York fell back. The official reports 
do not give the exact facts as to how the 103d came to exchange positions with 
the 92d New York. The writer heard the entire colloquy between Col. Hunt, 
Lieut. Col. Maxwell and Capt. Stewart. Capt. Stewart was conversing with 
Col. Maxwell at the right of the road, directly in rear of the left flank of the 
right wing of the Regament, when Col. Hunt came back very much excited and 
accosted Lieut. Col. Maxwell as follows : "Colonel, my men are badly cut up, 
and if you will relieve them I will support the battery." Col. Maxwell replied in 
his quiet manner, without the least evidence of excitement, as follows : "Colonel, 
I would like very much to comply with your request, but my orders require me to 
support this battery, and until I receive proper authority I cannot leave here." 
At this juncture Capt. Stewart interposed by saying: "Col. Maxwell, I will 
assume the responsibility for ordering your regiment forward." Instantly Col. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 37 

Maxwell gave the command for the Regiment to advance, orders being sent to 
Capt. Laughhn to move simultaneously with the left wing To those who 
witnessed the retreat of the g2d, and heard Col. Hunt's remarks to Col Maxwell 
his account of the proceeding will be rather amusing, and will in a measure' 
account for his subsequent promotion as brigadier general of volunteers In his 
official report he says : 

"My men were now completely exhausted with their two hours work in the 
swamp. We had tried to get a foothold to the front and on both flanks, but had 
failed for want of numbers. The enemy were reported to me by several as 
passing our right flank and I judged it best to draw back to the higher cn-ound 
m our rear where I knew the 103d Penna. to have been posted. Here I received 
through yourself, authority from Gen. Wessells, to direct the movement of the 
several regiments in the neighborhood. Having had the opportunity of getting a 
good knowledge of the position and its requirements, I directed Lieut Col 
Maxwell, whose regiment (the 103d Penna.) was nearly twice as strong as mine' 
to advance through the swamp directly to the front, occupy the ditch and if 
possible, pass on beyond the fence. The men were fresh and went 'forw'ard 
gallantly to the task before them, which I lightened as much as possible by sending- 
forward the 85th Penna., Col. Howell, lying in the wood nearby, and pointed out 
the direction of attack. I presumed that my adjutant had returned to the rie-ht 
flank with the re-enforcements I had sent him for, and so, while my men were 
resting in support of a section of Morrison's battery and on ground previously 
occupied by the 103d, I sent forward four of my officers in different directions 
toward the front with Gen. Wessells' order that every regiment should ore-s' 
forward." (O. R. Sec. I, Vol. XVHI, p. 104.) u pre.s 

Lieut. Col. Maxwell refers to the action of the Regiment as follows : "Sunday 
Dec. 14, at 9:40 a. m., I was ordered to move my regiment forward as a support 
to one section of Morrison's battery, having the right wing, rest on the ri^ht and 
the left wing on the left of said section, with orders to direct our movement with 
the battery. After advancing gradually for over 50 rods with said batterv we 
halted when the g2d New York Vols, moved past us and filed ofif in front of the 
right wing of the 103d. After remaining not more than one hour in advance 
they fell back across the right wing and reformed their line in the rear A^ 
this time Capt. Stewart, assistant adjutant general, came up and ordered me 
to move my regiment forward in advance of the battery. We moved forward 
through a swamp of thick undergrowth and water from one to two feet deep and 
about twenty rods wide. Immediately after crossing said swamp we received 
a volley of musketry from the enemy's line, which we then learned was but a 
few rods in our advance. We delivered a volley, lay down under cover of a 
small knoll, reloaded and fixed bayonets, rose, delivered another volley and 
charged over the bank. At this time an order from the 85th Penna which w^as 
moving up in the rear of the left, demanded us to cease' firing- as 
we were firing into our own men. The enemy's fire in front of our 
•i I^^^ ^mediately directed on our right, making, in connection 
with the fire from the strong line in front, a heavv cross fire. We were also 
in danger of a fire in the rear from the 45th Mass.,'whose line was immediately 
in rear of our right wing. Under this combined fire I gave the order to lie 
down, and from this position we again rose, charged after the enemy some 
twenty rods, when their fire was completely silenced. We were then ordered to 
halt and await the arrival of the battery. During this time the 96th New York 
moved by the flank from our right and reached the bridge. From the time we 
first formed our line as a support to the battery until we reached the bridge was 
from 9 40 a. m. to 2 p. m. Our loss during this time, out of 430 actually engaged 
was 14 killed and 58 wounded, some of the latter mortally. During the whole 
of this time all of the officers and men of the Regiment behaved in an exemplary 



38 103D PENNiSYLV.AJ^IA REGIMENT 

manner, showing entire coolness. I will mention that when we made our first 
charge, the loth Conn, overlapped our extreme right; from the second charge 
we moved past their line, passing their left." (O. R. Sec. I, Vol. XVIII, p. 104.) 

Col. Howell, in his official report of the action of the 85th Penna. refers to 
the 103d in the following terms : 

"I found a part of the left wing of the 103d Penna. Vols., directly in front 
of us. Our position was on the left of the battery and left of the road. Shortly 
afterward * * * I moved my regiment deployed in line of battle, forward, 
preceded by a part of the left wing of the 103d Penna. Vols. On coming out 
of the wood and swamp, we came to an open field in front of us, and there we 
received sharp, rapid and continuous fire from the enemy. I should think we 
were under fire there for an hour. We returned their fire as rapidly. The firing 
cm our part was splendidly done. We then moved rapidly forward across the 
field, driving the enemy from the wood in front of us and away from the church. 
We passed through the wood to a large open field lying between the wood and 
the river. The fire of the enemy during this time was very heavy, but the 
gallant officers and enlisted men of my Regiment and that part of the 103d Penna. 
Vols., which was left with us, dashed forward with a shout and with cheers, 
through the fire without flinching. When about midway over the field I dis- 
covered by ascending a slight elevation which we were approaching, that my 
own regiment and the 103d would be cut to pieces by pursuing that line, and 
that I could accomplish as much by moving to the right, which I did. We suc- 
ceeded, as I have before stated, in driving the enemy from our front and from 
their position in the church." (O. R. Sec. I, Vol. XVIII, p. 107.) 

The Regiment maintained its position on the battle field until after most of 
the troops had crossed the Neuse river. Before crossing, it marched back to the 
rear, where blankets, shelter tents, and extra material had been left before 
advancing on the enemy, and, as it crossed the bridge, met Gen. Foster returning 
from the Kinston side who, without halting, passed some complimentary remarks 
on the action of the Regiment. 

The Regiment passed through Kinston, Company C remaining at the bridge 
on picket duty, on the north side of the Neuse river. Capt. Donaghy describes 
the battle of Kinston as follows: 

**We took position as support to a battery which had opened on the enemy. 
The shot and shell from the enemy were crashing among the tree tops above us, 
but as we were lying in a depression in the ground we were not in much danger. 
We would have been covered like the 'Babes in the woods,' if we had remained 
in that situation long, for we were under a shower of foliage and tree fragments 
that were cut off by the rebel shot. One tree trunk, ten inches in diameter, was 
cut off clean, and the top piece plunged down, crushing badly the arm of a man 
in Co. D. Troops back of us were marching toward the right flank and were 
exposed to the fire that passed over us, and I saw several men sink suddenly 
to the ground, killed or wounded. Infantry in advance of us were actively 
engaged with the enemy. One of the regiments came back for some reason, out 
of ammunition perhaps, and the right wing of our regiment advanced in its 
stead to the crest of higher ground. * * * The fire from the enemy was the 
severest we had been in. They were less than a hundred yards from us and in 
front of part of their lines stood a wooden church, and from its windows came 
many a shot. The building was set up on posts about two feet from the ground, 
and looking under it we could see the shuffling feet and legs of the rebels ; and 
indeed, about all we could see of the enemy on either side of the church was 
their lower extremities, for the smoke from their guns veiled their bodies, but 
our boys saw enough to know where to shoot. The lieutenant colonel, our 
regimental commander, was posted behind a large tree near where I was. He 
smiled at me and affectionately patted the trunk of the tree as if to say it was a 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 39 

friend indeed, and I nodded assent. After a while the forces that had g-one to 
the flank were heard in the conflict and the enemy in our front fell back. We 
were ordered to charge, and we came upon the enemy on the left bank of the 
river, at the same time our force on their left flank was charging- in upon them. 
By an abandoned cannon, among other dead, lay the body of a rebel major. 
A woman who lived in a house nearby said the major had told her that he 
expected to be killed in that fight. Our Regiment had suffered severely, its loss 
being 14 killed and 58 wounded. One of the latter. Charles Stewart, was struck 
four times; first a shot passing through his clothing and just scratching his 
breast; another ball touched the back of his hand, and when he was loading his 
gun a bullet struck his bayonet, bending it and knocking it against his body. 
By this time he was thoroughly angr>' when a shot passed through the muscles 
of his arm and put him hors de coynbat. One man had the brass numbers 
picked from his cap by one bullet and was slightly wounded under the arm by 
another." 

Before noon, the entire force on the expedition, retraced its march subsequent 
to the battle of the previous day, recrossed the Neuse river on the bridge at the 
Kinston battle field and journeyed westward in the direction of Goldsboro, along 
the right bank of the Neuse river. Before leaving, however, the dead were 
buried and the wounded were taken care of on Taylor's plantation, not far from' 
the Kinston battle ground. The captured prisoners were paroled. The Regiment 
continued to advance on the 15th until within four miles of Whitehall, where it 
went into bivouac late at night. Early the next day the Regiment resumed its 
march, passing WTiitehall during the forenoon while the enemy was briskly 
engaged with other regiments, the Neuse river separating the combatants. 
A halt was made about dark, Dec. 16, eight miles east of Goldsboro, where the 
Regiment bivouacked for the night. On the morning of the 17th the brigade 
advanced to within two or three miles of Goldsboro, and formed in line of battle 
overlooking the railroad track. The batteries opened on the enemy, the principal 
part of the fire being directed at the railroad bridge. The enerny replied with 
artillery from the opposite side of the river. The 9th New Jersey advanced 
steadily towards the bridge and after engaging the enemy for about two hours, 
succeeded, after several attempts, in firing the bridge. Lieut. G. W. Graham, 24th 
New York Independent Battery, then acting as aide-de-camp to Col. Heckman, 
of the 9th New Jersey, applying the torch under a heavy fire. The railroad bridge 
and a large amount of the railroad track having been destroyed, the object of the 
expedition had been accomplished; and late in the afternoon the troops started 
eastward via the same route over which they had advanced, on their return to 
New Bern. Wessells' brigade had covered a couple of miles on the return trip 
when the enemy charged on the troops left to protect the rear. The brigade 
was ordered back on the double quick, moving by the left flank in order to lose 
no time. By the time the brigade reached the scene of action the enemy had fallen 
back and the batteries and their supports withdrew, leaving Wessells' brigade to 
bring up the rear. The Regiment bivouacked on the same ground it had occu- 
pied the night before. On the i8th the brigade bivouacked within 6 miles of 
Kinston, and the following day passed the battle ground of the previous Sunday, 
and arrived at New Bern at noon on Sunday, Dec. 21, and encamped east of the 
Trent river where it remained until Feb. 2, 1863. 

Capt. Donaghy describes the Whitehall-Goldsboro aflfair as follows : 
"On Tuesday we moved forward while the cannon were booming at the 
front. The firing increased in volume as the forenoon wore on. We began to 
see the wounded brought to the rear, and soon we heard cheering mingled with 
the other sounds of strife, and we heard the news that the rebels were being} 
driven. At last we came in sight of the battle field as we moved along a hillside 
road to the left. On the bottom lands below we saw the enemy in retreat and 



40 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the Blue Coats cheering- after them. The rebels entered a wood and were lost 
to our view, and as the Union line neared the timber we saw one of the regimental 
flags drop down — that meant the death or injury of some brave fellow. It was 
up again in an instant and went forward with the cheering men. Our brigade 
was not called upon to participate in that fight, nor were we permitted to stay to 
witness more of it. We kept on our way and left the scene behind. The rebels 
retreated to the north side of the river. A gunboat in course of construction 
was destroved by our forces. That action was known as the battle of Whitehall. 
As we moved along the road mentioned we were not out of range of the rebel 
sharp-shooters, who threw some lead among us, but so far as I know of, did no 
harm, unless it was to frighten and delay our colored camp followers, who were 
very late in coming up. I had to do my own foraging that night, but succeeded 
in getting a chicken, and Matthew turned up in time to broil it, on a sharp stick, 
held over a glowing fire, made from a farmer's fence rails. 

"Next day, Wednesday the 17th, we had a hurried march before breakfast, 
forward still. ' Then we halted, and built our fires for cooking. After that our 
march was slow and cautious. We halted again while our generals held a 
council. The firing in advance told of the presence of the enemy. We moved on, 
and at noon came in sight of our forces in line of battle, with the batteries 
actively firing. We were near the point where the railroad crossed the Neuse 
river and about two miles from Goldsboro. The ground was open, and the line 
was on a ridge, but we could not see the enemy. We marched to the left and' 
took position in the edge of a swampy wood, and facing it, to guard the flank and 
rear. The conflict at the front raged loud and long; the rattle and roar of 
musketry was heard, and at last came shouts and cheers from our line that 
betokened victory. From where we were we could only hear the fight, so I 
climbed a tree to try to see it. I could see our men tearing up the railroad track, 
and soon a column of smoke from the burning railroad bridge, also the work of 
our men. That was the object of the expedition. The work was done, and the 
infantry began to move back on their return to New Bern. Our brigade, too, 
began its march. Suddenly our artillery belched forth with great rapidity, the 
'rebel yell' and the rattle of musketry was heard ; an aide galloped up to our gen- 
eral with the word that the rebels were attacking. We faced about and moved 
at double quick towards the scene of conflict. The sun had gone down and the 
shades of night were falling. The firing ceased and we were not needed. The 
rebels had seen Morrison's battery isolated, the infantry supports having marched 
back, and they sought to capture it by a sudden dash by a brigade of infantry, 
but their approach was discovered in time, and the battery opened on them with 
grape and canister so effectively that they were repulsed with great slaughter. 
The commander of that battery — Captain — afterwards General Morrison, is now 
a comrade of John A. Dix Post, G. A. R., to which I also have the honor to 
belong, and I have heard from him a graphic account of that exploit of his 
battery. 

"Our brigade became rear guard and we remained on the ground until the 
other troops had gone. The woods had been set on fire, and the sky behind us 
was lurid as we marched away. We bivouacked on the same ground we had 
occupied the night before. On the following day we moved leisurely, undisturbed 
by the enemy. We foraged liberally to make our rations hold out. There was 
plenty of fresh pork to be had, and it was a common thing to see a slaughtered 
pig lying by the roadside, not hung up and dressed in the usual way, but shot or 
stabbed, and then a chunk of flesh cut from the body, without the trouble having 
been taken to remove the hide or hair. The piece thus cut out would usually 
be stuck on the soldier's bayonet, to carry on the march, and the balance of the 
carcass left for whoever wanted any of it. We came within six miles of Kinston 
that night. As we were sitting in camp we had a laugh at the expense of one of 




Reading: from left \o riglU: Corp. Oliver P. Camphell. Co. K; Private Abi-am Adams Co. 
B: -d Lt. W. B, Kroeso-n. Co. K: Private Aaron "\V. Lang. Co. E; Private Uriali Sloan Co B" 
Private Henry Mnntsomei y. Co. B: Private James Rankin. Co. B: Corp. Isaac Sliakelv'Co.' 
B: Private John P. Er-n-in. Co. B: Private B. P. Ranlcin. Co. B; Corp. Thoma.« Havs Co B; 
Private Rol.ert P. Black. Co. E: Private Valentine "VVhitener. Co. E- Private C^TUS 
Croup. Co. E: Ist Sergt. W. B. Sedwick. Co. E: Private George Barr. Co. E; Private Gabriel 
M. Duffy, Co. E. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 41 

our regiments. The soldiers had stacked arms to encamp in a field where a crop 
of some kind of g'rain was still standing, and was quite dry. A spark from a 
camp fire ignited it and the breeze carried flames swiftly among the solidiers, who 
scampered about more widly than if the 'Black Horse Cavalry' had been among 
them. Luckily the grain crop was a light one and the flames so short-lived that 
they did no damage to the soldiers arms or equipments. 

"On Friday we were at Kinston again, and I took the opportunity of sketch- 
ing the church and surroundings from where we had stood in the fight. As an 
indication of the amount of lead that had been thrown about there I will mention 
seeing a sapling of but five feet in height which had been struck by seven bullets. 
We re-entered New Bern at noon on Sunday." 

CHAPTER Vni. 

New Bern — Hyde County Raid. 

(From December 28, 1862, to March 13, 1863.) 

On Dec. 28, Gen. Wessells was assigned to command the First Division of 
the i8th Army, comprising two brigades, the First Brigade (Wessells), consisting 
of the 85th, 92d, 96th New York; 85th, loist, 103d Penna., commanded by Brig. 
Gen. Lewis C. Hunt; the Second Brigade consisting of the loth Conn. ; 24th, 44th 
Mass. ; 5th Rhode Island. Immediately after assuming command of the brigade, 
Gen. Hunt visited the Regiment and in a fulsome manner complimented it for its 
gallant action in relieving his regiment at Kinston. His remarks, however, did 
not evoke much enthusiasm from the Regiment, as his conduct at the battle of 
Kinston, while not exactly reprehensible, was in such marked contrast to that of 
Col. Maxwell, that the men felt that the latter was more deserving of promotion. 
However, it was generally understood that Col. Hunt's promotion was due to his 
military knowledge, he being a graduate of West Point Military Academy. On 
Feb. 2, the Regiment crossed the Trent river and took possession of a large 
wooden barrack on the western border of New Bern in advance of Fort Totten, 
and between it and the Neuse river. In due time the knapsacks which had been 
stored at Suffolk were forwarded, and the replenished wardrobes of both officers 
and men made quite a change in their appearance. The other troops stationed at 
New Bern were exceptionally well uniformed, the enlisted men being much more 
nobbier in appearance than the majority of the commissioned officers of Wessells' 
brigade. Capt. Donaghy refers to this as follows: 

"As it had been a long time since we had been paid off, our return to New 
Bern from the Goldsboro expedition found the officers out of money. When 
campaigning in the country our needs were few, but when living in town our 
epicurean tastes were developed beyond the resources of the commissary depart- 
ment. Capt. Mackey of Co. H. was the man we looked up to in such an emer- 
gency. He was equal to the occasion and negotiated credit for us at a grocery in 
the town, and we immediately proceeded to live like lords. Our extra baggage 
had been left at Suffolk, and we looked very much like tramps, compared tol 
the elegantly dressed troops who had long been garrisoning the place, and who 
'put on airs' over us, or we thought they did. We were not recognized as officers 
if we did not wear the insignia of our rank. I went about town one day in 
fatigue suit without shoulderstraps. I stopped in the sitting room of a hotel, but 
was politely notified to get out, as enlisted men were not allowed there. Luckily 
one of our 2d lieutenants was there with his shoulder-straps in place, and on 
vouching for me I was allowed to remain and drink at the bar. It was an offense 
to sell liquor to enlisted men." 

During the next three months the Regiment enjoyed as easy and pleasant a 
time as at any period of its nearly four years' service. Fish and oysters were 



42 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

plentiful and country produce of all kinds could be had at reasonable prices. Col. 
Lehmann returned and assumed command of the Regiment Feb. 13. The officers 
who were not antagonistic to him presented him with an elegant sword as evidence 
of their confidence and esteem. 

Camp routine was broken on Saturday, March 7; the Regiment embarking 
on the transport Northerner, debarking from it on Monday, March 9, near Swan 
Quarter, Hyde Co., N. C. The object of this expedition was in the nature of 
reprisal for the action of a number of citizens of this county who had formed a 
"home guard," and in an ambuseade had killed several of the 3d New York Cav- 
alry the previous week (March 4). The expedition starting from Swan Quarter on 
March 9, proceeded around Lake Mattamuskeet, and arriving at Swan Quarter 
about 6 p. m. on the nth, a distance of 52 miles via wagon road. The route 
taken from Swan Quarter was to the west of the lake, thus keeping the latter to 
the right during the entire march. During this trip, from the time the Regiment 
debarked until it re-embarked at the landing, a half-mile from Swan Quarter, 
no attempt was made to maintain discipline. This was due largely to the influence 
Capt. Colin Richardson of the 3d New York Cavalry exerted over both officers 
and men. It was Capt. Richardson's company (F), which had suffered in the 
ambuscade, and it was at his request that the expedition was sent to Hyde Co. 
Before leaving Swan Quarter he addressed the men, without any protest from 
the commanding officer, and apparently with his sanction, in words that would 
encourage the men to commit excesses. Another reason for lack of discipline on 
the part of the 103d was the absence of its field officers, the Regiment apparently 
being commanded by an officer of another regiment. There is no doubt that this 
raid was the most discreditable affair in which the 103d Regiment participated 
during the nearly four years of its service. The caravan that entered Swan 
Quarter in the evening of March 11, 1863, must have caused amusement even 
to the pillaged citizens, who had an opportunity to view it as it passed by. Such 
a collection of animals and vehicles never before (or since) marched in procession 
on this continent. A true description of this multi-farious, incongruous collection 
of quadrapeds and conveyances which extended along the east shore of Lake 
Mattamuskeet, by a genius like Mark Twain would forever make Hyde County a 
historic place. The citizens of Hyde County, then, as well as now, were descend- 
ants of the first settlers of the county, who located there prior to and during the 
Revolutionary war, and certainly every style of vehicle that had been in vogue in 
that part of the country during the i8th and 19th centuries must have been 
brought into requisition on this raid. The caravan transported the bulk of what 
had been the contents of the meat houses and cellars along the route, the men 
had traveled. The expedition was commanded by Col. D. B. Morris, of the loist 
Penna. Regiment, who censured the 103d in his official report in the following 
terms: 

'T would also call attention to a lack of proper discipline among the line 
officers of the 103d Regiment Penna. Vols. They seem to have little or no control 
over their commands, and lack energy to enforce proper discipline. To this 
there are some exceptions, * * * As an instance of insubordination in the 103d 
* * *, while embarking on board the Northerner from the steamer Escort, the 
officers and men, contrary to repeated orders, rushed forward before the boat 
could be made fast to such an extent as to endanger life and to render it impossible 
for the officers of the boat to manage her. Having repeated the order for the 
men to remain in their places and await orders, and all to no effect, I seized a 
gun and fired down the side of the boat for the purpose of deterring the men, 
but with no intention of injuring anvone. At the moment of firing a man rushed 
forward and was slightly injured." ' (O. R. Sec. I, Vol. XVHT, p. 181.) 

As before stated there was an absence of discipline on this raid, but anyone 
reading the above paragraph from the official report of the commanding officer 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 43 

of the expedition can readily see where to place the blame. At no time during the 
three days' march around Lake Mattamuskeet did Col. Morris make any protest 
to the officers of the Regiment as to the conduct of the troops. There is no doubt 
the words of censure are due to the shooting episode on board the boat, to which 
he refers, to show the spirit of insubordination that prevailed in the ranks of the 
103d. But this very episode as told by himself is self-condemnatory, and shows 
very clearly that the lack of discipline was due to the commanding officer. The 
steamer Northerner was a heavy draught vessel and the Escort was used as a 
lighter, transporting the troops from the shore to the Northerner. After most 
of the troops had boarded the latter, the tendency was for most of the men to 
move to the side of the vessel where the Escort brought its load. This caused 
the Northerner to roll to the side next the lighter. The captain of the Northerner 
ordered the men back, but as they were slow to respond to his order, he made 
an appeal to Col. Morris who came hurriedly out of the cabin and ordered the 
men to the other side of the vessel. The men obeyed, but as soon as the lighter 
returned with another load there was a repetition of the offense, many of the men 
not being present at the former time. It was then that Col. Morris rushed out 
of the cabin, snatched a gun from the hands of an enlisted man, accidentally firing 
it, the shot taking effect on Private Isaac Shakely, of Co. B., who is still living at 
this writing, the proprietor of a blacksmith shop at Emlenton, Penna. Had. Col. 
Morris detailed a guard, which was the proper thing to do, there would have 
been no difficulty in preserving order. The writer witnessed the entire episode 
and would have regarded the matter too trivial for notice had the colonel's peculiar 
account of it not appeared in his official report. In fact, the "unpleasantness" 
was due to the fine vintage of Hyde County, free to both officers and men "with- 
out money and without price." Capt. Donaghy's account of this raid will be of 
interest to the survivors who participated in it. He says : 

"My company was detailed as a support to the artillery, which consisted of 
two howitzers from the gunboat Morris, and was drawn by sailors. They were 
soon relieved from that service by negroes who fell in with the column as we 
marched along. * * * Co. A * * * Commanded by Capt. Alexander, was in 
the advance, acting as skirmishers. We stepped out briskly, leaving the main 
body considerably behind, but reaching a point where the roads crossed we halted 
until those behind closed upon us. We improved the opportunity to fill up, 
reinforcing our rations with eggs, honey, etc., which I do not remember to have 
seen paid for. The whole force halted for dinner. The afternoon's march closed 
with our joining another detachment of our force that had marched by another 
road. Capt. Alexander and I slept that night on a farm house floor. A guerrilla 
was captured in the night by the pickets. I do not Icnow what was done with 
him, but I recall a story that was told me by one of the cavalry after our return 
to New Bern. On the steamer that took the cavalry to New Bern, was a prisoner 
— one of the hated guerrillas, who lay bound hand and foot, on the lower deck. 
At night when the boat was steaming along the sound the poor fellow was 
deliberately pu.shed overboard by a cavalr}'man. I was horrified at the story, and 
ashamed to think that a Union soldier would do such a deed, but it was claimed 
that a guerrilla had no rights as a soldier. We resumed our march at daylight. 
After we had gone some miles I was ordered with my company to act as convoy 
to North Carolinians who were enlisted in the Union service and who desired to 
come within the lines. I marched two and a half miles from the route of the 
main column, and as I would have to return by the same road, I did not want to 
leave men enough by the way to organize a force against me ; so I took into 
custody every man, we found, about a dozen in all. One was a rebel lieutenant 
with his arm in a sling. The others seemed like honest farmers, but I would 
not trust to appearances. We searched several houses on the way, looking for 
men. At one small house the soldiers were stopped at the door with the word 



44 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

that a woman in labor was within. I thought it might be a ruse to conceal some 
guerrillas, so I entered the house, and one glance within convinced me that the 
fair door guardian had told the truth, so with an apology for the intrusion 1 
withdrew. We reached the residence of the people we were to move, and their 
household eflFects were loaded into a rickety cart with a sorry specimen of a 
horse to haul it. When we were about to start on our return a little boy of five 
or six years of age stood by weeping bitterly because he was being left behind. 
He was an orphan who had been living with the folks we were taking away, 
and they did not wish to take him along. None of the citizens present werd 
willing to care for the child, so I put him into the cart and ordered that he be 
taken along. The grateful look of the little fellow as he dried his tears was my 
reward, I next assembled my prisoners and asked them if they were willing to 
swear allegiance to the United States if I would set them free. I made an, 
exception in the case of the rebel officer who had been paroled by a Union com- 
mander. The citizens answered in the affirmative, and I caused them to hold up 
their right hands while I improvised an oath of allegiance, to which they all 
assented. It dawned on me as I proceeded that this was something of a farce. 
One of the party said he had sworn several times already. They seemed glad 
to get their liberty, and we started on our return. Our march was much ob- 
structed by the cart, that thumped and plunged over the inequalities of the 
unkempt road and stuck in the mud. The harness was rotten, and frequently 
halts were made to mend the breaks. Finally the old horse gave out and could 
go no farther. Luckily, one of our boys had captured a horse and that was^ 
substituted. The locality was favorable for foraging, but not wishing to let the 
men stray off, I ordered a halt and detailed several of them to forage for all. 
They went out and returned with an ample supply of poultry and other stuff, 
and with great foresight, they brought also two large iron kettles to do the 
cooking in. Plundering seemed to have been extensively indulged in by the main 
force ahead of us, to judge from the debris we saw in the road as we followed 
after. Books, papers, wearing apparel and household articles were strewn about. 
We passed by the burning ruins of a family mansion, which we were told after- 
wards, had belonged to the captain of the guerrillas. From the devastation that 
was done I would not have wandered if a party of bushwhackers had assembled 
to waylay my little party, and try to wreak vengeance on it, so I kept my men 
prepared for such an emergency, but we were not molested. Before dark we 
came to the camp of the main body, and were pretty well used up by a march of 
about 35 miles during the day. The largest, and as good a chicken stew as I 
ever saw was made that evening in the captured kettles. Our march was on a road 
that encircled Lake Mattamuskeet, a body of water 15 miles long and 6 wide ; and 
looking to the right as we marched we had occasional glimpses of its smooth 
surface, on which glided a few graceful swans. They were the only living beings 
we could see upon it. On the third day we completed its circuit and turned, 
again towards the sound. We had started on this raid as foot soldiers, but by 
this time a majority of our force was riding, mounted upon horses, mules, 
donkeys, oxen, and even cows, or were drawn by them in vehicles of various kinds, 
with the family carriage with some pretensions to style to the home-made wagons 
with wheels constructed of boards nailed together crosswise. It was a grotesque 
and comical procession, and it amused me greatly, but there was such a lack of 
order and discipline, that from another view of it I was disgusted. The command 
was in a condition to be annihilated if attacked suddenly by an organized force 
of one-quarter the size of ours, but I 'did as the Romans did.' and rode part of 
the time myself on a horse belonging to the commissary. Once I mounted a 
diminutive donkey and rode along with my feet dangling close to the ground. 
The animal went along nicely for awhile, but becoming tired of my company, 
he suddenly rushed under a wagon and scraped me off his back. When we halted 




Reading from left to ri£;lU: Capt. 'I'lionias A. t'ochiaii. Co. C: Pin at- Isaac Stirt\. (,'<>. (.'; 
Private Williani H. Shaffer. Co. C; Corp. Geo. AV. Pifer. Co. C: Seigt. Jolin A. ijwinii. <.'o. C: 
Lieiu. Baptist H. Scoit. Co. C; Corp. Liitber S. Diol^ey. Co. C: Sersrt. Sannitl M. Evans. Co. C; 
Privax^^ Pliillip Faust. Co. H: Musician .lolin J. Aslibaugli. Co. H; Private Peter Kliiigler. Co. 
H: C'jvp. Samuel McCoy. Co. H: Private Samuel C. Burkliolder. Co. H: Sergt. Samuel Rupert, 
Co H: Pri\ate Seliastian Xiederriter. Co. H; Ser.ct. Jolin W'nlters. Co. H: Private Jo.«e-ph R. 
Land:.-. Co. H: Ser^t. Jacob Rupert. Co. H. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARR,\TIVE 45 

for dinner that day some of my boys found a roast of beef just prepared at a 
farm house and carried it away, and as a faithful chronicler, I must confess that 
I partook of it. We arrived at Swan Quarter in the evening, and bivouacked in 
the town. Capt. Alexander, as usual, found a good place for him and myself 
and some other officers. It was at a tavern kept by a Mrs. Lewis, and we slept 
on feather beds which she was kind enough to spread on the dining floor for 
us, apologizing at the same time that officers should have to sleep on beds without 
sheets. The troops remained in that town all of the next day, and on Friday 
re-embarked to return to New Bern." 

This description by Capt. Donaghy, one of the strictest disciplinarians of the 
103d, is evidence of the "mad riot" which prevailed on this raid, which, perhaps, 
in the entire annals of the war, had no counterpart. The Regiment embarked 
on the 13th and returning reached New Bern that afternoon. During the day, 
while approaching the Neuse river, heavy cannonading could be heard which 
proved to be an attack on Fort Anderson, situated on the north bank of the 
Neuse, opposite New Bern, by the Confederates, this being the first anniversary 
of the capture of New Bern by Gen. Burnside. However, by the time the Regi- 
ment debarked the enemy had disappeared. 

CHAPTER IX. 

New Bern — Spinola Expedition — Reconnoissaxce to Washington, A^ C. 

(From March 13, 1863, to May 2, 1863.) 

Sunday afternoon, April 5, 1863, the Regiment was hurriedly prepared for 
a march and rushed off to Foster's Wharf, New Bern, boarded a schooner, and 
after remaining there an hour, debarked and returned to the barrack. The next 
morning the Regiment was reviewed by Gen. I. N. Palmer, who was in command 
of the forces at New Bern in the absence of Gen. Foster, then at Washington, 
N. C, with the garrison besieged by the troops of Gen. D. H. Hill. Orders were 
given the men early in the morning of April 7 to be ready to march at a moment's 
notice. About the middle of the afternoon the Regiment again marched to 
Foster's Wharf, crossed the Neuse river, and after marching a mile, went into 
bivouac, remaining at this place until three o'clock the next day. During the 
afternoon and night of April 8, an advance of 14 miles towards the besieged gar- 
rison of Washington, was made, the Regiment going into bivouac about 10 
o'clock p. m. By seven o'clock the next morning the entire force was moving 
rapidly in the direction of the beleaguered town, and after covering 13 miles was 
suddenly brought to a halt as the advance had found the enemy heavily intrenched 
on the opposite side of a narrow stream called Blounts Creek. A dense woods 
between the creek and the road, on which the 103d Regiment had halted, hid the 
enemy from view although the right of the Regiment must have been within 
100 yards of the enemy's earthworks. As the advance approached the creek 
where it was intersected by the road the enemy opened fire with both musketry 
and artillery. Six gims were unlimbered and opened on tlie enemy at close 
range, at such a short distance that grape and canister was used instead of 
shells. The Federal battery having no protection whatever, maintained its posi- 
tion under a galling fire, for more than an hour when it retired. In a few, 
minutes the troops, comprising Wessells' brigade, followed, moving by the left 
flank. For a time the men supposed a flank movement was being made, but it 
soon dawned upon them that the entire command was making a hurried retreat, 
no halt being made until ten miles had been covered. Early the next morning, 
March 10, the head of the column started toward New Bern, the 103d not mo\nng 
until about 8 o'clock. About 2 o'clock p. m. the Regiment came to a halt about a 
mile from the Neuse river, opposite New Bern, and formed in line of battle, 



46 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

maintaining this position until the entire force had recrossed the river, when 
it followed, reaching the wharf at New Bern about 2 o'clock a. m., April. 11. 
This expedition was always spoken of by the boys as "Spinolas Fiasco," the 
expedition being commanded by Brig. Gen. F. B. Spinola, who was regarded as 
a political general, without military knowledge. Gen. Wessells was absent, and 
Gen. Palmer seemed to think it was his duty to remain at New Bern, so the 
expedition was entrusted to Gen. Spinola, although assumed by him with diffidence 
and misgiving, and the hasty retreat was no doubt due to his realization that he 
was utterly incompetent to contend against such a masterly military genius as 
Gen. D. H. Hill. Perhaps he deserves praise rather than censure for so deciding. 
In the judgment of the writer, he showed wisdom in retiring, not because of an 
inadequate force, but because of his lack of military science. Gen. Prince, his 
senior in rank, a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, with a quarter of a 
century's experience as a soldier, predicted the failure of the expedition to Gen. 
Spinola, and was averse to taking command of the forces. In his official report, 
Gen. Spinola says : 

"Gen. Prince, at this interview, also invited me to volunteer to take the; 
command of the expedition, which I declined, in the most positive and unmistak- 
able language. I was entirely willing to take my chance with the others of either 
falling upon the field or being taken prisoner, but my own good sense promptly told 
me that the size of the expedition and the importance of its trust forbade one of 
my limited military experience from assuming its command, except under positive 
orders from my superior officers, and then, in obedience to a willing heart, I could 
only promise to do the best I could to accomplish the object of the expedition. 
At about 10 a. m. on April 8, a messenger called at my room and told me that 
Gen. Palmer desired to see me at once. I immediately proceeded to his head- 
quarters, when he informed me that the command of the expedition would fall 
upon me. This was the first intimation I had received that this important trust 
would be placed under my charge. I expressed, my astonishment at it, and 
told Gen. Palmer that I could not assume the command unless I received a written 
order to that effect." 

This certainly puts Gen. Spinola in a more favorable light, and the fact that 
he did not attempt to dislodge the enemy, and sacrifice the lives of his men, when 
he lacked confidence in his own ability, is very much to his credit. Gen. Spinola 
recruited the "Empire Brigade" in the fall of 1862, and was commissioned 
brigadier-general of the U. S. Volunteers in recognition of his services. His 
brigade in the spring of 1863 at New Bern was composed mostly of Pennsylvania 
troops: the 158th, 171st and 175th Regiments, and the 158th New York. 

At 4 p. m., April 17, the Regiment again left the barrack for Foster's Wharf, 
crossed the Neuse river and went into bivouac, until 7 o'clock the next morning, 
when it started at a rapid pace over the old road, and continued with one brief 
halt, until it reached Blount's Creek, to find the Confederate force gone. 
Bivouacking for the night on grounds previously occupied by the enemy, at 5 
o'clock the next morning, April 19, the brigade moved on toward Washington, 
bivouacking along the New Bern and Washington road, about three miles from 
the latter place. 

On April 21, the Regiment entered Washington, bivouacking on some vacant 
lots in the town until early the next morning, when it relieved the 44th Massa- 
chusetts, which had held possession of the main breastworks during the siege 
by the enemy. Remaining in this position, in bivouack, in rear of the breast- 
works, until Saturday, April 25, at 5 a. m., the Regiment boarded the steamer 
Escort, which arrived at New Bern about 5 p. m. Saturday. Next day, Sunday, 
after inspection, the men signed the pay roll, and at i p. m. the paymaster dis- 
bursed "greenbacks" to the boys. This trip to Washington practically ended the 
Regiment's reconnoissances and expeditions from New Bern, and with the excep- 




MAP OF EARLY COAST OPERATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



The above map embraces nearly ail the points Wessells brigade covered in reconnolssance* 
during the last three years o£ the war. With but two or three exceptions every town indicated 
on this map was visited by detachments from Gen. Wessells command. It is reproduced here 
by courtesy of the Century Company. 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 47 

tion of inspection, camp guard, and regimental drill, the men had nothing to 
do during the remainder of their sojourn at this quiet town, 

CHAPTER X. 

From New Bern to Plymouth — Reconnoissances to Jamesville, William- 
STON, Edenton Windsor, etc. 

(From May 2, 1863, to January 31, 1864.) 

The Regiment left the 'barracks at New Bern, Saturday, May 2, 1863, and 
shortly after noon embarked on the steamer TJwmas Collyer, bound for Plymouth, 
N. C, where it arrived the next day (Sunday, May 3) at noon, bivouacking at the 
southern border of the town near the Lee's Mills road. Under date of Sunday, 
May 3, 1863, in a diary before the writer the following notation was made : "Evi- 
dently Plymouth has been a delightful place, but is now chiefly ruins, no doubt the 
result of the war." The following day tents were issued and the men went to work 
with vim pitching them. They were A tents, large enough to comfortably ac- 
commodate four men. The camp was pitched in rear of unfinished breastworks 
bordering the southern limits of the town about a fourth of a mile from the 
Roanoke river. In the center of the intrenchment was a heavy earthwork called 
Fort Williams which was garrisoned by Co. A. The Regimental camp extended 
from near the main wagon road that entered the town from the southwest known 
as the Washington road, parallel with the intrenchments, some distance west of the 
Lee's Mills road. As soon as tents were pitched and the camp put in order large 
details were put to work to complete the breastworks, and slash timber, a half mile 
beyond, into abatis. The breastworks in front of the Regiment were completed 
on May 19. The following Sunday, May 24, Maj. Gen. Foster, commanding the 
Dept. of North Carolina, arrived at Plymouth and reviewed the troops and in- 
spected the fortifications. From Plymouth Gen. Foster went to Edenton, accom- 
panied by Gen. Wessells, a detail of 50 men from the 103d under command of 
Capt. John Donaghy and Lieut. D. M. Spence, acting as an escort. The party left 
Plymouth on the steamer Thomas Farrayx, and after a stop of two hours at Eden- 
ton Gen. Foster returned to New Bern on the Thomas Farran, and Gen. Wessells 
and escort returned to Plymouth on board the steamer Massasoit. Gen. Wessells 
again visited Edenton on Saturday, May 30, with an escort from the Regiment, the 
party arriving there at noon and taking their departure at 3 P. M, Nothing to 
disturb the monotony of camp life occurred until June 12 when a party of Con- 
federates consisting of three officers and seven enlisted men approached the picket 
line bearing a flag of truce. They bore a communication for Gen. Wessells which 
was sent to the General the party awaiting a reply, which, they received, without 
much delay and then took their departure. This being rather an unusual incident 
was a topic for discussion, but the purport of the visit was never disclosed to the 
enlisted men. Picket duty was enlivened by frequent raids of the enemy. On 
June 26 Lieut. Scammon, who was officer of the picket, and two cavalry videttes 
were captured. On June 22 fourteen deserters surrendered to the pickets, some of 
whom immediately enlisted in the ist North Carolina (Federal) Regiment. June 
2j, 1863, Co. F left for Roanoke Island, Capt. Donaghy receiving orders from the 
district comimander to assume command of the post there. From that date until 
Jan. 3, 1864, Co. F was detached from the Regiment. It was then reheved by Co. 
C, and returned to Plymouth. July 3, the enemy made an attack on the picket line 
fatally wounding a cavalry vidette and taking one prisoner. The Fourth of July 
was celebrated by the Regiment by the reading of the Declaration of Independence 
and a patriotic speech by Maj. Gazzam. At dress parade the following day, (July 
5) Lieut. Col. Maxwell notified the men to be ready to move at 7:30 P. M., at 
which time the Regiment marched to the river and boarded the gunboats SoiUh- 
field and Comtnodore Perry; Companies A, D, I, C and H embarking on the 



48 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

former and K, E, G and B on the Commodore Perry. Two other gunboats, the 
Whitehead and Valley City, accompanied the expedition, the naval squadron be- 
ing commanded by Lieut. Com. C. W. Flusser. The mihtary force was under the 
command of Col. D. B. Morris of the loist Penna. Regiment, and his regiment 
was also aboard the gunboats. Col, Lehmann, who was then commanding the 
brigade, left Plymouth the same evening with a land force co-operating- with the 
water expedition. The Roanoke river being very high, the current was unusually 
swift, and the narrowness of the channel and the protruding branches from the 
trees which lined its banks on either side made progress up the river quite diffi- 
cult and slow ; especially so for the SoiithHeld. Towards evening the fleet arrived 
at Williamston, 28 miles above Plymouth, the SouthHeld, however, not arriving 
until 7 130 P. M. When the first vessels arrived at the town several shots were 
fired, and then Maj. Gazzam, and Capt. Fumiss of the Valley City, bearing a flag 
of truce entered the town and demanded the surrender of the place, stipulating 
^hat the Confederate troops evacuate it within one hour. This demand being re- 
fused, on the return of the officers, the town was shelled quite briskly for two or 
three hours, after which a desultory fire was continued until morning. Immediate- 
ly after the break of day the Regiment and the loist, debarked and deploying 
entered the town, passing a half mile beyond where the enemy was found to be in 
force. Being beyond the range of the gunboats. Col. Morris deemed discretion 
the better part of valor, and did not further molest the enemy. Within a couple 
of hours after entering Williamston, the Federal troops were re-embarldng on the 
gunboats and returned to Plymouth. 

The land force under the immediate command of Col. Lehmann, consisting 
of detachments from the 85th and 96th New York Regiments, with some cavalry 
and a section of artillery, came in contact with the enemy's pickets at Gardner's 
Bridge, about 6 A. M., July 6, and after reconnoitering the enemy's position the 
artillery shelled the enemy, expecting the force under Col. Morris to attack them 
in the rear. Hearing nothing from the latter, Col. Lehmann retired with his 
force, returning to Plymouth about 9 P. M. However, he was ordered to re- 
turn, and again started with the same force at 7 A. M. on June 7. When he 
reached Jamesville where he had been directed to halt until he had ascertained the 
position of Col. Morris and the naval force, he remained quiescent with his force 
until he learned the gunboats were returning, when he advanced with his force to 
the position occupied by the enemy on the previous day, to find it abandoned, the 
enemy evidently having fallen back to Williamston to unite with the forces there. 
After destroying the bridge. Col. Lehmann returned to Plymouth with his entire 
force, reaching camp again about 9 P. M. 

This expedition was expected to hem in the enemy between Williamston and 
Jamesville, but the slow movement of the gunboats and the timidity of both com- 
manding officers of the land forces made this impossible. However, the main 
object of the expedition was accomplished. A cavalry expedition was to leave 
New Bern at this time to destroy the railroad track on the Weldon Railroad. A 
movement from Plymouth was liable to disconcert the enemy, and divert forces 
that would otherwise be concentrated on the cavalry force. 

Frequent similar raids were made from time to time from Plymouth during 
the time the place was garrisoned by Gen. Wessells' command. A cavalry move- 
ment against the Weldon and Wilmington Railroad was made again during the 
last week of July and the garrison of Plymouth was again used to divert the 
enemy. The entire effective force of the First Brigade under the command of 
Col. Lehmann, left Plymouth Sunday forenoon, July 25, bivouacking at Jamesville 
Sunday night. This expedition advanced several miles beyond the former one 
and thoroughly alarmed the country by numerous cavalry dashes in different di- 
rections and frequent use of the two sections of the battery of artillery that ac- 
companied it. This expedition returned to Plymouth, through a furious rain and 



CHRONO'LOGICAL NARRATIVE 49 

thunderstorm, second only to the great storm preceding the battle of Fair Oaks on 
May 30, 1862, reaching- camp after dark, Tuesday, July 28. 

The following morning, July 29, Gen. Wessells took a small force of in- 
fantry aboard the steamer Massasoit and entered Williamston again very quietly. 
As the steamer neared Williamston orders were given to approach the town 
quietly ; the speed was slackened in order to reduce the noise made by the engines, 
and when within a half or three-fourths of a mile below the town, the steamer 
landed on the right bank, where a field of corn, which extended to within a few 
feet of the river, concealed it entirely from view. The troops were debarked rap- 
idly but quietly, and deployed as skirmishers and advanced quickly on the town, 
Gen. Wessells himself giving personal direction to the matter, although the entire 
command did not exceed three or four hundred men. In fact, he was among 
the very first to debark, and cautioning the men to keep quiet, assisted in align- 
ing them as they came off the boat. The force proceeded to advance swiftly on 
the town, the men keeping the deployed distance as nearly as possible, climbing 
fences, passing through yards. It was here the writer made his only exclusive 
capture, during his war experience. Just as he had succeeded in climbing a high 
fence and dropping into a back yard, a youth of fourteen or fifteen, came run- 
ning from the house in front, evidently with the intent of secluding himself in one 
of the outhouses in the rear. He obeyed the command to halt, and was marched 
out and turned over to an officer in the street, when the writer returned to his 
position in the line. What became of the boy, or what explanation he made never 
came to the knowledge of the writer, as this entire movement through the town 
was made with great celerity, and the skirmish line passed on through and beyond 
the town, and formed a picket line until late in the afternoon ; when the men were 
hurried from the picket line to the boat, and were soon passing down the Roan- 
oke river, reaching Pl^Tnouth, two or three hours after dark. 

During one of the early expeditions to Elizabeth City, N. C., a "wild cat" 
bank there was raided by the sailors. A large quantity of bank-notes, both signed 
and unsigned, were confiscated by the sailors and lavishly distributed to the sol- 
diers. These notes were finely executed both in design and engraving. It was 
an easy matter to palm them off on the illiterate, white and black, in districts 
first invaded by the Federal troops. The garrison at Plymouth, for a time, found 
foraging made easier by using this spurious money. The parties robbed would 
catch their chickens for the "Yanks," while the latter stood quietly by. It is 
needless to say that the second visit to a place found no one Avilling to accept 
these new crisp bills in payment, and then downright foraging was resorted to. 
It is true, strict orders were issued against foraging, as most of the citizens pil- 
laged had taken the oath of allegiance, but very few of the officers enforced it, 
the enlistment men being careful not to be seen by an officer committing an overt 
act. Scarcely an expedition returning to Plymouth, but what brought a bounti- 
ful supply of country produce from the district visited. 

Scarcely a week went by while the Regiment was stationed at Plymouth 
that the Regiment, or detachments from it, did not participate in one or more 
expeditions. When cavalry scouting parties would go out, they were usually 
supported by the infantry, the latter guarding cross roads, to prevent the enemy 
from cutting oiT a retreat. The waters tributary to the Albermarle Sound were 
constantly invaded and a constant draft was made on the Plymouth garrison to 
accompany naval expeditions. However, volunteers for such ser\ace were so 
numerous that no one need go unless so disposed. The swamps that surrounded 
Plymouth caused a malarial effluvium that played havoc wnth the troops. He had 
a rare constitution who did not sufiFer with chills and fever among the enlisted 
men. A large percentage of the garrison was required to cover the picket line, 
and so depleted were the ranks for men effective for duty, during the latter sum- 
mer days of 1863, that those not excused from duty were almost constantly on 



50 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

camp or picket guard. It was a frequent occurrence for men who did not wish 
to be excused from duty to topple over at guard mount, or to become "flighty" 
while on picket or camp guard. On Aug. ii, a negro regiment (ist D. C.) ar- 
rived, and became for sometime, a part of the garrison. While it remained the 
pickets were detailed from it every third day. The "colored brethren" were 
very alert while on duty, and took no chances on letting- the enemy go by. If 
they heard any suspicious noise they would immediately fire, and most every 
night that it came their turn for duty, shots were fired quite frequently. On one 
occasion the cavalry videttes reported that some Confederates had been seen enter- 
ing the woods in advance of the picket line between the Lee's Mills and Wash- 
ington roads. Lieut. Kiester was hurriedly sent out with a squad of twenty men 
from the F.egiment. This small force, widely deployed, thoroughly scoured all 
the woods for a mile in advance of the picket line and could not see or hear any- 
thing that would indicate that the enemy had been in that vicinity. However, 
Lieut. Kiester kept the squad outside the picket line until nearly morning, dividing 
his little band into two squads, and placing them about 75 yards apart, on a road 
that connected the Lee's Mills and Washington roads about a quarter of a mile in 
advance of the picket line. It was expected that if a party of the enemy contem- 
plated a raid on the pickets that it would pass along the road, and after passing 
the point where either squad was posted, a signal was to be given and both squads 
were to close in on the enemy. Shortly after dusk the pickets began firing, all 
along the line, and continued to battle with imaginary foes, for several hours. 
Had the enemy contemplated a raid, it is possible that this fusilade caused him 
to change his plans. An amusing climax to Kiester's expedition was, that not- 
withstanding it was pitch dark when the little band was returning to camp by the 
Lee's Mills road, it marched up on the advanced sentinel without being halted or 
fired upon, and the oflScer of the guard, hurriedly got the reserve in line and pre- 
sented arms. The foregoing incident is not told as a reflection on the "colored 
brother." The same kind of action was likely to have occurred from green white 
troops. In this connection it might be proper to relate an occurrence on the picket 
line a few weeks previous to this. On the main approaches to Plymouth, such 
as the Columbia, Lee's Mills and Washington roads, it was customary to post a 
sentinel some distance in advance of the post, the picket reserve being at these 
main posts, where another sentinel was always on guard during the night time. 
The sentinels at these points were relieved every two hours, as on camp guard. 
On the occasion referred to the writer was the advance sentinel on the Lee's 
Mills road, on duty from 11 P. M. to i A. M. About midnight a shot was fired 
from a post about midway between the Lee's Mills road and the Washington road. 
This was followed a little later by other shots and before the writer was relieved 
twenty or thirty shots had been fired from the pickets between these two roads. 
Just as the writer returned to the main post where the reserves were standing 
ready for action, Maj. Gazzam, who was general officer of the day, came gallop- 
ing out to see what was wrong. He came unaccompanied by staff or orderly, 
and after hearing a report from the officer of the guard, Lieut. Kline, who was 
killed at the battle of Plymouth, the Major ordered him to take a man to ac- 
company him and the lieutenant to make an investigation. The writer was se- 
lected by Lieut. Kline to accompany them. It was a moonless night and the 
pickets were posted along a narrow opening cut through the woods. It was the 
duty of the enlisted man to go ahead and locate the picket pests, while Maj. Gaz- 
zam, who was mounted and the Lieutenant followed. Some of the pickets who 
had fired, at first denied it, putting the blame on the posts farther on. Finally a 
post was found where it was admitted that the firing began, and the reason for it 
was that some persons had passed through the lines and they had fired on them. 
In consequence of this report Maj. Gazzam went along the entire line that night, 
and had all the pickets on the alert watching both ways. The next morning it 



CHRONOILOGICAL NARRATIVE 51 

was discovered that some cattle had passed between the picket posts. The men 
who did the firing that night belonged to the 103d Regiment, and were not re- 
cruits. The fact is that the most fearless of men are at times easily affected, and 
allow imagination to deceive them. 

Aug. 4. A report came to Plymouth that the Government light-house near 
Elizabeth City had been burned. A detail from the Regiment, formed part of an 
expedition which boarded the gunboat Miami to intercept the guerrillas who com- 
mitted the depredation. At 10 A. M. the next day the expedition returned with 
seven prisoners captured near the location of the lignt-house. 

On Aug. 8, the Regiment received a new equipment of Springfield rifles 
to take the place of the Austrian rifles, with which the men had done all their 
previous service. New accoutrements were also drawn. On August 27, eighty 
men of the Regiment, commanded by Lieut. Kiester, with Lieuts. Fluke and (T. 
A.) Cochran, went on an expedition to Lee's Mills, returning about dark the fol- 
lowing day. The object of this excursion was to guard some cross roads, while 
a squadron of cavalry was covering the surrounding territory for some Confed- 
erate soldiers, said to be home on recruiting service. On Sept. 6, a raid was made 
on the pickets, resulting in one killed and six wounded, all cavalry videttes. On 
October 19, the writer, and Sergt. Evans, the collaborator of this volume, were 
both sent from Plymouth for the General Hospital, Beaufort, N. C, and did not 
return to the Regiment until 9:30 A. M., Nov. 28. From the time the Regiment 
left Camp Orr, until October 19, the writer was continuously with the Regiment, 
participating in every march, reconnoissance, skirmish and battle in which it was 
engaged, except one Blackwater expedition, when he was on picket, and the ex- 
cursion from New Bern to Washington, N. C. Ths notation is made here merely 
to inform the reader that the writer, so far, has written of the activities of the 
Regiment with some knowledge. What follows must mostly come through 
others. 

On Jan. 2, 1864, at 5 P. M., Company C (the writer's Co.) boarded the 
Steamer Massasoit, and started for Roanoke Island, N. C, relieving Company F 
the following day, the latter returning to Plymouth on the Massasoit. During the 
latter part of 1863, under promise of a thirty days furlough, about two-thirds of 
the Regiment re-enlisted as veterans. The promise of the Government was that 
the furlough was to be issued prior to the expiration of the term of the first en- 
listment. The officers active in securing the re-enlistment represented to the men 
that a promise had been made by the proper authorities that the furlough would be 
granted within sixty days from the date of the new muster. 

On Jan. 20, an expedition started from PljTnouth under command of Lieut. 
Col. Maxwell for the purpose of capturing or destroying Confederate property 
which had been concentrated at Harrellsville, Hertford County, N. C. The expe- 
dition was highly successful ; a large amount of property was brought away, and 
for want of transportation many wagons, large quantities of salt and sugar, and 
150,000 pounds of pork were destroyed. This was accomplished with the loss of 
one killed. The enemy fled leaving i killed and 2 wounded. 

Again on Jan. 26, another force commanded by Lieut. Col. Maxwell was 
dispatched into Bertie County to destroy and capture Confederate property. On 
this excursion 200,000 pounds of pork were destroyed, also a large amount of 
Confederate property ; tobacco, cotton, horses, mules, and wagons were brought 
away. Lieut. Col. Maxwell's success in these enterprises call forth a complimen- 
tary order from Maj. Gen. Peck, commanding the Army and District of North 
Carolina, in which he said: "The success of this enterprise is shown in the list 
of property taken or destroyed. * * * This example of Col. Maxwell will be 
appreciated and emulated by the whole command." 

On Jan. 29, Lieut. Col. Tolles of the 15th Conn. Vols, commanded an ex- 
pedition in which a detachment of the Regiment, under Capt. Donaghy partici- 



52 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

pated. Lieut. Com. Flusser, with a party of seamen, participated in this expedi- 
tion also. A company of Georgfia cavalry was located near Windsor, and the 
Confederates were gathering- supplies from this section. Horses, mules, wagons, 
clothing, ammunition and two soldiers were captured. Several prominent citizens 
were brought away to be held as hostages for certain loyai persons incarcerated in 
Richmond. 

CHAPTER XI. 

G.\RRisoN Life at Plymouth as Seex by Capt. Doxaghy and Corp. Rupert. 

(From May 2, 1863, to April 17, 1864.) 

The following excerpts from Capt. Donaghy's "Army Experience," and the 
diary of Corp. John F. Rupert will give the reader an idea of conditions pre- 
vailing at Plymouth during the months preceding the Regiment's departure from 
there. Capt. Donaghy says of Plymouth and the garrison : 

"Our brigade had received orders to garrison the post of Plymouth on the 
Roanoke River and we embarked for there on the 2d of May, our Regiment going 
on the steamer Robert Collyer. Plymouth when it was inhabited by its citizens 
might have contained, about a thousand persons, but at the time of our arrival they 
did not number half of that. A line of our works not completed extended in a 
small semi-circle aipund the town from east to west ; from near the river below to 
the shore above the town. The river bounded the town on the north, and was 
defended by gunboats. In the center of the line of defences was a fine work called 
Fort Williams, mounting three thirty pounder guns. The troops holding it, whose 
term of service had expired, were relieved by Co. A of our Regiment, (Capt. Alex- 
ander) and the company of Ira B. Sampson of the 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery. 
My Co. was posted outside on the right with Co. D to my left. The balance of 
the Regiment was posted to the left of the fort. We received new "i\" tents — one 
for each four men, and with the aid of lumber we put- the tents up two feet above 
the ground and about them planted sods. We paved the streets neatly with bricks 
taken from ruined buildings, and to protect us from the sun we erected arbors, 
and covered them with boughs. That work and the labor of completing the forti- 
fications, with the regular routine of picket and guard duty added, kept the men 
quite busy for a time. One day as the Co. was at work on the fortifications in 
front of its position Gen. Wessells rode along. He inspected the work we were 
engaged upon, and then called my attention to a mistake I had made. Where I 
had left an embrasure for a cannon I had the narrowest part of the opening at 
the rear of the embankment. The General got off his horse, and with a sharp 
stick made a drawing on the sand showing the narrowest part of the embrasure 
at the front instead of at the rear. He said that as I had built it the embrasure 
was like a funnel made to catch the cannon balls. I thanked him for the lesson 
and changed the work accordingly. On Sunday, May 24, Gen. Foster, our dis- 
trict commander, was at Plymouth on a tour of inspection, and from there he 
went to Edenton and I was detailed to accompany him in command of an escort 
of fifty men, consisting of my Co. and some men from another one. Lieut. 
Spence of Co. K was my assistant officer. We left Plymouth on the General's 
boat — the Thomas Farran — at 11 A. M. We had a pleasant trip down the river 
on the sound. Besides our district commander there were present on board Gen- 
erals (Edward A.) Wild and (Edward E.) Potter, and a number of staff officers 
and our own General, "Old Billy" Wessells, whose rough and ready appearance 
contrasted with the others. He wore Government brogans and trousers such as 
were worn by enlisted men of the cavalry. The rest of his uniform was in ac- 
cordance with his rank, but was worn and weather stained. 

"I had the honor of dining with the distinguished company on board, and 
soon after we arrived at Edenton, which is situated on the north shore of Albe- 




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CHRO'NOLOGIC.^L NARRATIVE 53 

marie Sound, and is the county seat of Chowan County, N. C. It was not occu- 
pied by either the Confederate or Union forces. I landed my men and marched 
into to'WTi, and up the principal street several blocks, and then sent groups out 
in different directions to the outskirts as pickets ; while I kept a number in the 
street as a reserve. The people came out to look at us, but made no demonstra- 
tion of feeling for or against us. It was a beautiful town and we saw some 
beautiful women in it, but we were not on speaking terms. I visited some of my 
outposts and saw away across the fields groups of men in gray, who had retired 
from the town on our approach. They were rebel soldiers— citizens of the town, 
who had been home on leave. My instructions did not call for me to interfere 
with them, and I did not. My men at the reserve wished to make some coffee, 
but the peaceful appearing and orderly condition of the place made them hesitate 
to tear down the neat paling fences for fuel, so I asked leave of a lady to let the 
men use her kitchen. The request was granted and the coffee was made. About 
that time Gen. Wessells and Gen. Wild came along, and accepted my invitation 
to have a cup of coffee with the boys. They stood on the sidewalk and drank it. 
Gen. Wild intimated to me that the object of their visit ^vas to gain information of 
the guerillas. After being about two hours in the town three blasts from the 
steamer's whistle gave us the signal to withdraw. The pickets returned to the 
reserve and we re-embarked for Plymouth on a steamer with Gen. Wessells, while 
Foster and his party departed for New Bern. 

"On another occasion I went to the same place in command of an escort to 
Gen. Wessells and other officers. We had a brass band with us, and my men 
were in their dress uniforms, (as they had been on our first visit) and we pre- 
sented a holiday appearance. The band entertained the citizens with some ex- 
cellent music, though the airs might not have been those they would have selected. 
My company's movements were a repetition of those of our first visit, but the band 
gave us more eclat as we moved in platoons down the principal street when re- 
tiring, to the tune of "The Captain With His Whiskers Took a Sly Glance at 
Me." As my whiskers were not formidable in appearance I did not take that 
selection of air as in any way referring to me, and sly glances would not have 
availed us in that town. 

"Scouting parties went out almost daily from our post, and occasional 
brushes with parties of the enemy occurred. The latter sometimes came close to 
our picket lines. On June 20, I went on duty in command of the pickets on the 
Washington and found no officers to relieve. The one who should have been there 
had strolled outside the lines and into the hands of the 'Johnnies.' When I ar- 
rived at the outposts the enemy were reported to be at a house on the left side of 
the road. I moved my men up to it and found the enemy had gone. The unfor- 
tunate officer that they had taken away with them was Lieut. Scammon, of an- 
other regiment of the garrison. I met him a year afterwards as a fellow prisoner 
of war. 

"Keeping the clothing and equipment of the men up to the required state of 
completeness, was a duty that took considerable attention on the part of the com- 
pany commanders. The regulations allowed each enlisted men $42 per year for 
clothing, and each article had a fixed price. What he drew in excess of that 
amount was charged against his pay, and if he drew less than the allowance he 
was paid the amount so saved. On the marches at the beginning of our service 
when the men were fatigued, many of them threw away their great coats, or such 
articles as they thought they could spare. Afterwards experience, or their com- 
pany commanders, forced them to replace the articles discarded. When it was 
the latter that exercised the compulsion, the man usually considered himself a 
victim of military tyranny. While at Plymouth it was ordered that dress hats 
be added to the equipment of the men. The hats arrived, and the men assembled 
at their respective company headquarters to be fitted and supplied. Private 



54 103D PENNSYLV.^NIA REGIMENT 

M of my company remained in his tent unwilling- to receive a hat. I 

sent him a special invitation to come and be crowned, but he replied that he did 
not want to buy a hat, and that he did not believe that a free bom American citi- 
zen could be compelled to buy what he did not want. Barring- his stubbornness 

M was a good soldier, so I went to him and explained the necessity of 

his obedience, but it was of no avail. He flatly refused to take the hat. I ordered 
his arrest, and had him sent to jail in town. Next day he sent me word that he 
was sorry for his conduct and would take the hat. He was released." 

"On the evening of Jan. 29, there was a vocal and instrumental concert given 
by amateurs in the Plymouth Methodist Church, and the house was crowded. I 
was there with some of our officers, and the performance was not half over when 
we observed Gen. Wessells and Commander Flusser of the navy climb out of a 
window near the stage. Presently some one announced that the adjutants of our 
brigade were wanted and some more figures went out of the window. Our party 
surmised that "something was up." By and by word came to me that I was 
wanted in camp, and I displayed my coat tails going out the window. I learned 
that I was detailed to take a detachment of sixty men made up of squads from 
every company of our Regiment. Lieut. Kelly was to assist me ; we were to take 
two days' rations and were to report on the steamer Massasoit at 9:30 that even- 
ing. I had my company there on time, but others were not so prompt, and it was 
some hours before the steamer got away. The force was about 100 under the 
command of Lieut. Col. Falls of a regiment in our brigade. Lieut. Kelly and I 
slept on the floor of the cabin as the steamer went up the river. 

"About 3 o'clock in the morning we landed on the north shore and marched 
inland six miles to the town of Windsor, two companies of rebel cavalry en- 
camped near there being our objective. About daylight the advanced became 
engaged. My command was in a detachment that made a detour to the left at 
double quick to come in on the enemy's flank, but we had not reached our position 
before they 'skedaddled.' As we hurried up the road we saw some of the mounted 
rebels fleeing across a field to our left. My men were so eager to get a pop at the 
rebs that some of them began firing without orders, unmindful of a line of our 
skirmishers who were between us and them. It took some vigorous language on 
my part and some blows with the flat of my sword against their guns to make 
them cease firing. My own company would not have oflfered to fire, without con- 
sent, or orders, but a miscellaneous detachment, as that was, was hard to control. 
The enemy, except a few escaped, and all that we captured was their camp, with 
some arms, and the musical instruments of the band. Brass must have been 
scarce, for the horns were made of sheet iron. I did not have the pleasure of 
seeing the camp or the captured trophies, for my detachment was detailed for rear 
guard, and was stationed to watch a road north of the town. Commander Flus- 
ser's artillery squad practiced with their howitzers for a while shelling the coun- 
try in the direction the rebels had gone ; wasted some ammunition and then retired. 
My command consumed a few rails cooking their coffee, for the halt gave us the 
opportunity to eat breakfast. Across a hollow on our front was a wooded hill, 
and we heard there the neighing and stamping of horses, and after listening and 
watching for a while, I sent Lieut. Kelly with a squad of men to find out what it 
meant. . He deployed them as skirmishers and moved into the woods, where he 
found several horses which the farmers had tied there to keep them out of our 
way. It was a lucky discovry for us, and Lieut. Kelly and I, and some of the boys, 
ceased to be foot soldiers for the time being. A saddle and bridle was found in a 
bam near by, and I borrowed them. 

"On our way back we passed through the town of Windsor. Kelly and I 
found riding a great improvement on walking, and Commander Flusser had a 
bottle with him, and we drank several times to his favorite toast, 'Confusion to 
the rebels, and damn the Roanoke Sheep.' By the sheep he meant the ram that 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARR-\TIVE 55 

the rebels were building up the river. We left the captured horses at the landing, 
without having any harrowing doubts but that their owners would find them. We 
were back in Plymouth by nine o'clock at night, with nobody hurt on the expedi- 
tion." ... , . 

"At Plymouth we had no cares on account of our eatmg, for the machmery 
ran smoothly and our tri-daily meetings were very pleasant. We discussed the 
news— the great events of the war and their influence on our thoughts and 
actions, and watched them with interest and often with anxiety. For all that we 
laughed when we could ; and there were many opportunities. Laughter was en- 
couraged, and the author of a good joke was deemed a public benefactor, and on 
some ones suggestion a jaunty cap labeled 'wit' was made to be worn by the most 
deserving jester. The cap was being inspected at the table before any one had 
been elected to wear it, and the captain of E tried it on. Lieut. Burns of H re- 
marked, 'He has wit on his head, but none in it.' The laugh went around and 
Bums was the first to have the honor of the jester's crown. No record has been 
kept of the brilliant sallies that caused the cap to jump from head to head for 
weeks afterwards. Perhaps it is just as well in this day of 'Chestnut bells.' 

"It is not to be supposed that 'All Fools' day could be allowed to pass un- 
honored by such a crowd as we were. Before breakfast a soldier from another 
company called on me saying the Colonel wished to see me. I called on him and 
found that I was 'sold.' He had not sent for me. At breakfast I found my cof- 
fee salted. At dinner the cook aided me in my revenge by salting the pies. The 
first victim helped himself, and when he discovered the trick a nudge warned 
him to keep quiet. He gained time by putting milk on the pie and cutting it, pre- 
tending to prepare it for eating, while his neighbors followed the process he had 
gone through. Soon neady all the company were fooling with their dessert wait- 
ing for the explosion which came when Capt. Mackey tried a mouthful of the pie. 

"Late in March there being a well grounded apprehension of an attack on 
our post, the officers' wives were ordered away. The grand guards were cau- 
tioned to be extra vigilant. The 'ram' up the river was known to be finished, 
and a formidable battery had been erected by the shore at the upper end of the 
town mounting a 200-pounder rifled gun, which was especially intended to sink 
the iron monster. The gunboats Miami and Sotithfield were lashed together, that 
in case the ram should escape destruction by the shore battery they could rush 
upon it and drag it to the bottom with them if sink they must. Though all these 
maneuvers were deemed necessary the soldiers seemed to feel no uneasiness on 
account of the enemy. My old comrade Dill was ambitious to become a commis- 
sioned officer in the^ new colored regiments then forming at the North. I pro- 
cured for him recommendations from most of our officers, and he secured an 
order to appear at Washington for examination before Casey's board. He passed 
for the rank of captain and then returned to his company to await his commis- 
sion. It came in due time, and he was assigned to the 43d Regiment Colored 
Troops then forming in Philadelphia. He left Plymouth on the morning of April 
17, and it was lucky for him that he got off that day." 

As Corp. John F. Rupert, of Co. A, was one of the most staid and correct 
men in the Regiment, extracts from his diary have a historical value. It is the 
ordinary ever\- day humdrum events of garrison life that makes history, and these 
extracts' are given to amplify the meager account of life at Plymouth, already 
given. 

Saturday, May 2. This morning received orders to pack knapsacks and be 
in readiness to 'move. At 12 M., "fall in" with knapsacks and march to the New 
Bern wharf and embark on the transport Thomas Collyer bound for Plymouth, 
N. C. Sail tonight. 

Sunday, 3. This morning on the waters of .A.lbemarle Sound ; pass Eden- 
ton • enter the Roanoke river at its mouth and after sailing 8 miles arrive at our 



56 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

destination. At 12 o'clock M., debark and march to an adjoining- field inside in- 
trenchments, and bivouac for the night. 

Monday, 4. Move to our encampment. The position assigned to Co.'s A 
and G, inside Fort Williams. 

May 15. A company of 3d N. Y. Cavalry arrives overland from Wash- 
ington. 

May 23. Boys finish stockading Fort Williams. 

Sunday, May 24. Gen. Foster and staff, accompanied by Gen. Wessells, 
visits Fort Williams. 

May 29. Paved inside of Fort Williams today. 

Sunday, May 31. Inspection at 8 A. M. by M-aj. Gazzam. 

June I. Garrison flag at half mast yesterday and to-day in honor of Col. 
J. Richter Jones, 58th Penna. Regiment, killed at Bachelor's Creek Station in a 
skirmish on May 23. Flag kept at halfmast in his honor for three days. 

June 8. Sergt. J. M. Whitehill, Corp. J. S. Cooper, Wm. Davis, Dan 
Barnacle, David Frampton and three men of Co. G, go with a six-pounder, on an 
expedition to Columbia, N. C. ; starting in the evening. 

June 9. Expedition that left for Columbia yesterday evening returned this 
evening, meeting with no armed opposition. 

June II. Companies A and G practice on the 5 pieces in Fort Williams. 
After firing three shots, a bursted shell set the slashing in front on fire, which 
caused a cessation of target practice and large details hurried to extinguish the 
-fire. 

June 18. Finish sodding the fort. 

Sunday, June 21. Three regiments of the brigade are inspected by Col. 
Lehmann, acting Brigadier General. 

Saturday, June 27. Co. F Leaves to-day for Roanoke Island. Two com- 
panies of I2th N. Y. Cavalry arrive here to-day. The two companies that were 
liere left for the Peninsula. 

Saturday, July 4. Form for parade at 7 A. M. The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence read by the acting adjutant, Lieut. Kelly of Co. H. ; patriotic speech 
by Maj. Gazzam'. A national salute is fired by 24th N. Y. Battery, at 12 M., 
from in front of Fort Williams. 

Sunday, July 5. Inspection as usual ; dress parade in the evening, after 
which 30 men of Co. A are ordered to prepare for a light march. After prepar- 
ing three days' rations the Regiment is marched to the river and embarks on the 
gunboats Valley City and SouthHeld. The gunboats on this expedition are the 
Whitehead, carrying" five guns, one one-hundred-pounder; the Valley City, six 
guns ; one one-hundred-pounder, four 32-pounders and one boat howitzer ; 
Commodore Perry and Southfield, each carrying a battery of seven guns — one 
IOC-pounder, five 9-inch Dahlgren, and one 12-pounder howitzer. 

July 6. Arrive at Jamesville, 12 miles from Plymouth, at day break. 
Troops stand with loaded guns in anticipation of an attack by the enemy's sharp- 
shooters from the river bluffs. Arrive at Williamston, 16 miles from Jamesville, 
in the evening, having left Plymouth at 8 130 P. M. the previous day. The enemy 
asks till 9 P. M. to remove women and children and declines to surrender. At 
9 P. M. the gunboats open fire on the town, continuing the fire throughout the 
night at intervals of five minutes. 

July 7. Our Regiment with the loist P. V., go ashore, form line and ad- 
vance on the town, it being three-fourths of a mile from the river. When we 
arrive at the town we find the enemy gone and the town vacated. We return to 
Plymouth arriving there at 3 P. M. 

July 10. Flag at half mast and sixteen <nms fired to-day in honor of the 
Christian Admiral Foote, who died June 26. Co. G moved outside the Fort. 

July 14. Co. G captures a rebel artilleryman on a foraging expedition 12 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 57 

miles from Plymouth. The captive was from Wilmington, visiting his parents 
in this vicinity. Firing on picket line to-night. 

Sunday, June 26. Regimental inspection as usual, after which each Co. 
is ordered to be in readiness for a light march. Co. A's orders were counter- 
manded and we remain in the Fort. Eight companies of the Regiment march 
at the appointed hour with the loist P. V., 85th and 96th N. Y. Vols.; leaving 
Plymouth on the Long Acre Road, Col. Lehmann, commanding. 

July 28. Expedition returns at 2 o'clock; two men of the 12th N. Y. Cav- 
alry wounded. 

July 29. A detail of nine men from each Co. in Regiment (excepting Co. 
A) with a similar detail from the loist P. V. and 85th N. Y. Vols., embark on 
the Massasoit for Jamesville, N. C. 

July 31. A captain, two lieutenants, two corporals and six men embark at 
12 M. for Pittsburgh, Pa., to bring drafted militia to refill the Regiment. 

Aug. 4. A detail of 13 men from each Co. of the Regiment (excepting Co. 
A) embark on the gunboats on an expedition. 

Aug. 6. At one A. M. Lieut. J. M. Laughlin arouses seven "boys" of Co. 
A, to go with a 6-pound brass piece on an expedition. 

Aug. 8. Detailed for guard. The Co. (A) marches to the ordnance office 
at Plymouth and receives first class Springfield rifles and new equipments. Can- 
nonading to be heard towards Williamston. 

Aug. 10. Detailed for guard. Two corporals and 14 men present for duty. 

Aug. II. Relieved from guard. The ist D. C. Negro Regiment arrives 
by transport this evening. 

Aug. 12. Detailed for guard. Weather very warm; a great many sick in 
hospital. 

Aug. 13. Relieved from guard duty at guard mount. Corp. C. G. W. 
Stover, David L. Vandyke and Gazzam Stewart having been with the expedi- 
tion that started on Thursday, 6th inst., returned this morning from Roanoke 
Island, sick. 

Aug. 14. The detachment with the piece of artillery that left on 6th inst. 
returned, having been on the Currituck Sound at the mouth of Alligator River, 
and Roanoke Island. 

Aug. 18. Negro pickets fire on the lines to-night. 

Aug. 20. Sergt. J. M. Whitehill, Daniel Barnacle, Oliver Colwell, Ab- 
solom S. Timms, William Wion and myself get ready to go on an expedition 
with 6-pounder. 

Aug. 21. Embark on transport Washington Irving, starting at 2 A. M. and 
anchor at 4 A. M. in the Scuppernong River, opposite Columbia. At 1 130 P. M. 
40 men of 85th N. Y. Vols, go ashore with the Steamer Dolly, picket the town, 
while a small force marches up the river. 

Aug. 23. Set sail for Plymouth with flat load of captured sheep, at 4 
o'clock (Sunday) and arrive at Plymouth at i P. M. Sergt. J. M. Whitehill and 
Daniel Barnacle taken to hospital, having taken fever and chills while on the 
way to Columbia. Andrew Reece, who was along, also sick in quarters. 

Aug. 26. Sergt. W. C. Mbbley, Corp. J. S. Cooper and six men with 6- 
pounder go on an expedition with two days' rations. Expedition went to 
Columbia. 

Aug. 27. In bunk greater part of the day, unwell. Rainy and cool. 

Aug. 28. Report at hospital this morning being unfit for duty ; sickness, 
fever and ague. Slept but little last night, having a bad pain in the head and 
high fever. 

Aug. 20. Reported sick this morning; excused from duty by Surg. A. P. 
Frick. 

Auo". 30. Reported sick; excused from duty; begin to shake with chills 



58 103D PENNSYLV.\NIA REGIMENT 

at 11:30 A. M. and shake till i P. M., afterward have heavy fever — unable to 
be out of my bunk the remainder of the day. This is my first shake. 

Aug-. 31. Reported sick; excused from duty by surg-eon ; no shake to-day: 
mustered for pay at 10 A. M., by Lieut. Col. Clarke, 85th N. Y. 

Sept. I. Reported sick; excused from duty; shake from 11 A. M. till i 
P. M. ; high fever the remainder of the day. 

Sept. 7. Report at hospital ; marked, "returned to duty." 
Sept. II. Mount a 32-pounder on the first bastion of the Fort, makings 
the armament of the Fort, four 32-pounders, and one 6-pound brass field piece. 
Sept. 19. Co. G. 3d N.Y. Cavalry arrive here today from New Bern, N. C. 
Sept. 26. Take a chill in the evening; have the fever the greater part of 
the nig^ht. 

Sept. 2"/. At 4 P. M. take another shake ; have fever throughout the 
night. 

Sept. 2'i. Have a shake commencing at noon and lasting an hour and a 
half; fever remaining part of the day. 

Sept. 29. Report at hospital for medicine ; marked for duty ; return from 
hospital and go on guard. Have a chill, commencing- at i P. M., lasting- an hour 
and a half. 

Sept. 30. Relieved from guard ; report at hospital ; Gen. Peck inspects the 
Fort and each detachment "falls in" at its piece as for action and so remain until 
after he leaves. 

Oct. 4. (Sunday). Inspection at 8 A. M. by Lieut. Col. Maxwell. At 10 
A, M. Co. A, with rations for one meal embark on the Massasoit, with a Co. 
from the loist P. V. to escort Gen. Wessells on a visit to Edenton, N. C. We 
set sail at 11 A. M. and arrive at Edenton at i P. M. After disembarking a 
picket is immediately posted on the various roads entering the town, part of Co. 
A held as a reserve in the town. Patrols, consisting of a corporal and three 
men, are sent through the town. Re-embark at 3 P. M. and are back at Plymouth 
at 5 P. M. 

Oct. 6. At drill in the evening at Gen. Wessells' headquarters the Regi- 
ment is formed as one company, commissioned and non-commissioned officers 
forming in the ranks. 

Oct. 7. Company memorials arrived to-day. 

Oct. 14. At an election held yesterday, the result is given as follows : A. 
G. Curtin, 225 ; Woodward. 25. Buried a member of Co. D, the first death in the 
Regiment since coming to Plymouth. 

Oct. 30. This evening when Co. was formed for drill Capt. .Alexander 
asked all those who would re-enlist as veterans to signify it by shouldering arms ; 
not a single piece is shouldered. 

Nov. 22. Maj. Gen. Butler, accompanied by his staff, inspected Fort 
Williams. 

Thursday, Nov. 26. National Thanksgiving day. At 11 A. M. a small 
number met at the church where Lieut. Col. Taylor, loist Penna. Vols., and ist 
Sergt. (Stoddard) of 24th N. Y. Battery, made addresses. 

Dec. 9. Embarked on board transport Charleston, with a detachment tak- 
ing a brass piece from the Fort. 

Dec. 6. Great excitement this evening in Co. barracks in regard to re- 
enlisting as veteran volunteers. Thirty-three sign their names to a paper agree- 
ing to re-enlist providing three-fourths of the Co. sign. 
Dec. 7. Two more sign the re-enlistment paper. 

Dec. 25. Christmas. Invited to hospital to take dinner with Norval D. 
Goe, accompanied by Joseph B. Stewart. James S. Cooper and Adam Myers. 

Dec. 28. At the hospital till 11 P. M. with Corp. J. B. Stewart, James S. 
Cooper, and Adam Myers assisting in decorating for New Years. Corp. Rupert 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 59 

in a memorandum in diary ^ves the prices for clothing in 1863, as follows: 
Great coat, $9.50; blanket, $3.60; dress coat, $3.60; blouse, $2.40; trousers, $3.55; 
drawers. 95; shirts, $1.30 and $1.46; socks, 32 cents; shoes, $2.05; cap, 56 cents; 
rubber blanket, $2.55; knapsack, $2.14; haversack, 56 cents; canteen, 44 cents. 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Battle and Capture of Plymouth. 

(From April 17 to April 20, 1864.) 

During the summer of 1863 there were constant rumors that the enemy was 
constructing a formidable iron-clad boat, with which to clear the Roanoke river of 
the Federal gunboats. These rumors affected only the timid in the command, as 
the men generally had such confidence in Gen. Wessells and Lieut. Com. Flusser 
that they believed they would be able to handle the boat, but also any force that 
the Confederacy could afford to send against it. The men who had re-enlisted 
as veteran volunteers were looking forward with great anticipations to the prom- 
ised furlough. On January 25, two regiments (15th and i6th Connecticut), 
arrived and the men were now sanguine that the furlough would soon be granted. 
Demonstrations by the enemy at other points in North Carolina, made the com- 
mander of the department timid, and the reinforcements were moved away early 
in February. On April 5, the paymaster made his appearance and disbursed quite 
a snug sum of money to the Veterans. They received $100 bounty due them 
from their first enlistment, one or two installments of, the new bounty (each 
installment was $50), several months' pay that had been due them, and one 
month's pay in advance, which brought their pay up to the last of March. The 
men felt sure that now the Government had started to fulfil its pledges, and that 
the furlough would soon come. They had been drawing new clothing' in order 
to_ present as neat an appearance as possible, when they met their relatives and 
friends after more than two years' absence. 

On a quiet Sunday afternoon, April 17, 1864, about four o'clock, the cavalry 
videttes in advance of the infantry picket line on the Washington road were 
attacked and driven in. Capt. Douoghy says : 

"Then a company of cavalry was sent out to reconnoiter and we watched 
them as they rode gaily towards the woods nearly a mile away. Suddenly from 
the timber came a murderous volley, and some of the saddles were emptied. The 
squadron was momentarily thrown into confusion ; then they turned and galloped 
back to camp. It was now evident that the enemy had come in force. Companies of 
skirmishers were sent out and they engaged the enemy until dark. At night the 
camp fires of our foes lighted up the sky nearly all around our front. Prepara- 
tions were made for the morrow, which we knew would bring us serious work. 
Our mess kitchen and dining hall which stood outside the works were razed to 
clear the way for artillery fire. At three o'clock next morning we were in line 
at the works, but beyond picket firing there was no fighting. About eight o'clock 
I was ordered with my company to relieve that of Capt. Morrow [Co. G.], which 
was skirmishing on the Washington road." 

In addition to Capt. Douoghy 's company, Lieut. S. D. Bums of Co. H., took 
out 50 men detailed from various companies of the Regiment, who were deployed 
east of the Lee's Mills road, along a pathway extending from the latter road 
around to a barricade where the bridge was destroyed on the Columbia road. In 
the afternoon, when the enemy pressed in on the 'pickets and the firing became 
brisk. Company H., commanded by Capt. James F. Mackey, was hurried out to 
the support of the skirmishers, forming south of the Lee's Mills road, confronted 
then by three companies of the 56th N. C. (Confederate) Regiment. The pickets, 
who were really advanced skirmishers, when pressed by the enemy, fell back on 



60 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the supports, Companies F. and H., in good order, and returned the fire of the 
enemy so effectively that he ceased to advance until nearly sundown, although 
keeping up a brisk fire all the time. About dusk the pressure of the enemy 
became so great and rapid that the skirmish line was forced to yield and retire 
rapidly to the intrenchments. 

As the battle of Plymouth is fully covered elsewhere in this volume only a 
brief reference to the action of the Regiment will be made here. A few days prior 
to the attack, Co. A. had been relieved from manning the guns in Fort Williams, 
by a detachment of the Second Mass. Heavy Artillery, and had taken a tem- 
porary position outside the fort, expecting daily to receive Veteran furloughs. 
When Gen. Wessells realized that the attack was formidable, Capt. Alexander 
and Co. were ordered back into the fort and co-operated with the detachment 
of the 2d Mass. commanded by Capt. Ira B. Sampson, until the fort was 
forced to surrender. Col. Lehmann was assigned to command the central line, 
the command of the Regiment devolving upon Col. Maxwell. 

During Sunday night the enemy kept comparatively quiet, but at break of 
day bombarded Fort Gray, which was isolated about a mile from the rest of the 
garrison above the town on the bank of the Roanoke. This fire was replied to 
vigorously and after a couple of hours the enemy became quiet. Incessant skir- 
mishing continued throughout the day, the enemy using some artillery southwest 
of the town in the direction of the 85th Redoubt. After the skirmishers had 
retired, about dark, the enemy opened a heavy fire upon the town from every 
direction, which was vigorously returned by Fort Williams, the 24th New York 
Battery, and the gunboats. Lieut. Zachariah M. Cline, of Co. G., was instantly 
killed, a fragment of shell striking him near the brain. During the night the 
enemy succeeded in carrying the 85th Redoubt, the garrison making a desperate 
resistance. On Tuesday morning, April 19, about 3 o'clock the enemy again 
opened a heavy fire on Fort Gray, during which time, under cover of night and 
shadow of the trees on the left bank of the Roanoke river, the iron-clad ram 
Alhermarle slipped by and succeeded in sinking the gunboat SouthHeld, and 
driving the other vessels out of the river. During the brief contest between the 
ram and the fleet the commander of the latter, Lieut. Com. C. W. Flusser, was 
killed. Instantly the situation was changed. The men of the garrison realized 
with the Albemarle in command of the Roanoke, with a force outnumbering them 
at least five to one, and perhaps double that, with no prospect of any re- 
enforcements, that the contest was hopeless. However, encouraged by their 
commander, preparations were made to hold out as long as possible. Bomb- 
proofs were hurriedly built in; the rear as a protection from the fire in that 
direction. At daylight on Wednesday morning, the enemy made a serious dem- 
onstration on the right and front, while advancing in great force on the left, and 
succeeded in carrying the line in that quarter, penetrating the town along the 
river, and capturing Battery Worth, with the 200-pounder rifle gun. Gen. Wes- 
sells ordered the Regiment to form in line at right angles from the breastworks 
toward the river in hopes of checking the advance. For a time this effort suc- 
ceeded, but the enemy had succeeded in getting in a position to fire from front 
and rear, as well as enfilade the little band, and concealed himself so from view 
that the contest became hopeless and the men were forced to retire into the bomb- 
proofs, where they continued to fire on the enemy, not wildly, but only when the 
enemy exposed himself to view. Gen. Hoke, the Confederate commander, 
realizing the futility of further defense, ceased firing and asked for a personal 
interview with Gen. Wessells, at which he demanded the surrender of the remaind- 
er of the garrison — two-thirds of it having already been captured. Gen. Wessells 
demurred. Gen. Hoke contended that further resistance was useless, as the position 
of Gen. Wessells was untenable, that there was no possibility of relief, and that the 
defense was all that ought to be expected of brave soldiers, and intimated that 



CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE 61 

further resistance might lead to indiscriminate slaug-hter. This intimation was 
not intended as a threat; neither did Gen. Wessells construe it as such. The 
bearing of Gen. Hoke throughout the entire interview was most courteous and 
soldierlike. Both of them realized at this time that the little garrison could not 
hold out much longer. Gen. Wessells knew even better than the _ Confederate 
commander, that it was useless to contend against such odds. The little garrison 
was completely enveloped on every side, Fort Williams being the only point where 
there was the least hope of successfully resisting an assault. However, Gen. 
Wessells refused the demand and returned to Fort Williams. For nearly an hour 
after his return the enemy slackened his fire, except the firing of sharpshooters, 
who were concealed in every available spot. If a head appeared above the parapet 
of Fort Williams, or from the bomb-proofs on either side of it, musket balls came 
from many directions. Before an hour had elapsed after the interview between 
the two generals a concentrated fire was opened upon the doomed part from four 
different directions. The sharpshooters of the enemy made it impossible to man 
the guns in the fort, and the shot and shell was poured into the fort without any 
reply being made, for no man could live at the guns. The breast height was 
struck by solid shot on every side, fragments of shells sought every interior angle 
of the work, the whole extent of the parapet was swept by musketry, and men were 
killed and wounded on the banquette slope. Gen. Wessells counselled with the 
officers present every one of whom urged him to surrender, and between lo and 
II o'clock on Wednesday, April 20, 1864, the garrison became prisoners, which 
embraced the entire Regiment except Company C, detached at Roanoke Island, 
N. C, and the men of other companies on detached duties, sick in hospitals, etc., 
in all about 450 men. Gen. Wessells and staff were at once separated from the 
troops, and they were never again permitted to serve under him. He remained 
at Plymouth until Saturday, April 23, when he and staff, and some other offi- 
cers, among whom was Surgeon Frick of the 103d, left Plymouth by the Cotton 
plant, for Weldon. Here they took the train for Richmond, and on April 26, he 
was confined in Libby Prison at Richmond. On May 7, he was moved to Dan- 
ville where he remained until May 12. when he was taken to Macon, Ga., where 
he was confined until June 10. On that day he left for Charleston arriving there 
June 12. He remained in Charleston until Aug. 3, when he was exchanged, and 
arrived at New York on August 9, 1864. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

From Plymouth to Andersonville Military Prison. 

(From April 20 to May 2, 1864.) 

At noon, the Plymouth captives were tramping over ground made familiar 
by many a march, under very different conditions. On either side was a strong 
guard of Confederate soldiers, who, although natives of the state, with but few 
exceptions, were friendly disposed towards their defeated foes, and manifested 
no offensive exultation over their hard earned victory. The commissary and quar- 
termaster stores, the extra camp equipment, and the deserted houses of Plymouth 
had made it possible for the guards to supply themselves with many of the com- 
forts of civilization of which they had been deprived for the previous two or three 
years. Most of them were accoutred with a motley collection, embracing almost 
every line of chattels to be found in the town, and this, no doubt, was a good thing 
for tihose in their custody, as it removed the temptation to pilfer. Foster's Mills 
and Jamesville were passed during the afternoon. A halt was made after dark, 
four or five miles west of the latter place, and a corn field was selected by the 
captors as the place of bivouac. But the march of seventeen or eighteen miles, 
in a broiling Dixie April sun made any resting place welcome. The second day's 



62 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

march, Friday, April 22, was not so severe. Shortly after noon a halt was made 
near Williamston, a town which had felt the devastation of war more than once 
at the hands of many of those who were now captives in their midst. Here, as 
elsewhere, the entire community had turned out to gaze at the "Yankees." Con- 
sidering the treatment that at least one expedition from Plymouth had given 
this town, in which the writer was a participant, the reception accorded the cap- 
tives left no ground for complaint. The postmaster of the town was among the 
visitors, and proffered his services to get letters through to Northern friends. 
About the middle of the afternoon the march was resumed and continued until a 
little before dark, when a halt was made in a North Carolina meadow, the captors 
making no objection to the confiscation of the fence rails surrounding it, which 
were used to keep up fires to dry the feet made wet by fording numerous streams 
during the ten miles covered throughout the day. The site of this resting place 
was convenient to excellent water, the soldiers best beverage, when wearied from 
a fatiguing march. Both officers and men, comprising the guard, seemed desirous 
to accord their prisoners as good treatment as circumstances would permit, select- 
ing comfortable and convenient places of rest, and in no way, interfering where 
there was no occasion. Consideration was shown to the sick, and in every way 
that did not jeopardize the safety of those in their charge, the guards acted in a 
humane and Christian manner. Captivity could not long depress the wags and op- 
tomists and their badinage only caused friendly laughter from the guards as they 
trudged along together. At times during the march there was little evidence of 
captor and captive, as the "light hearts" among the latter, with wit and song, made 
all, for the time, oblivious to place or condition. The less than two thousand pris- 
oners represented four states of the North ; Connecticut, Massachusets, New York 
and Pennsylvania, while the guards, were all from the state invaded by the cap- 
tive ; five states represented, each one of which had been part of that illustrious 
galaxy, the Thirteen original states which formed the compact the severance of 
which was now threatened. The representatives of each of these states comprised 
the best citizenship of their respective commonwealths, and each, captor and cap- 
tive, accepted the conditions in which the fortune of war had brought them, and 
acted towards each other as friends rather than foes. When the jovial spirits among 
the prisoners started on that most popular Yankee marching song "John Brown's 
Body Lies Mouldering in the Grave," "As We Go Marching on," no sign of pro- 
test was made. Even when that verse was reached that was most likely to arouse 
the passion of the Confederate soldier, "We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, 
as we go marching on," evoked only a smile. The men comprising the rank and 
file of the Thirty-fifth North Carolina Regiment were not braggarts, but had the 
qualities that make brave soldiers. Brig. Gen. Ransom, who commanded the right 
wing of the Confederate force, which assaulted and carried the Federal left at 
Plymouth, had been its colonel, and subsequent to the war, represented North 
Carolina for twenty-one years in the United States Senate and was also United 
States minister plenipotentiary to Mexico. For nearly two years it had for its 
adjutant the renowned jurist, Walter Clark, who for many years has been Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. 

Saturday, April 23, was the last day the Thirty-fifth guarded the Plymouth 
captives. An early start was made and during the forenoon the town of Hamilton 
was reached and a rest was made until noon the next day. Here the captives 
were regarded as safe from escape and the Thirty-fifth boys were relieved of 
gfuard duty and rushed off to the front. A new set of "Johnny Rebs" took charge, 
but while lacking in some of the finer qualities, of the men they had relieved, their 
treatment of the prisoners was fair and considerate. On Sunday, the 24th, the 
late Plymouth garrison, was regarded by the natives surrounding Hamilton as 
a "circus." Men, women and children for miles around came to see the captured 
"Yankees." About noon the prisoners were formed in line and a careful search 



CHRONOLOGIC.\L NARRATIVE 63 

was made for Buffaloes, who had formerly served in the Confederate army and 
deserted. A number were detected, and taken away, and met the fate, no doubt, 
which the laws of war. of all nations award to such. This search being over, a 
march of twelve miles from Hamilton was made on Sunday afternoon, and about 
dark a halt was made for the night, during which there was a light rain-fall; 
however, the place of bivouac, a friendly pine woods, offered a slight protection, 
and further than dampening the blankets, the men received no ill effect from 
Jupiter Pluvius. 

On Monday, April 25, the bank of the Tar river was reached, after a ten mile 
march. A place to bivouac was assigned the captives near the Tarboro bridge, and 
here they remained until Friday morning, April 29. Tarboro was the most pre- 
tentious town on the Tar river and carried on considerable traffic with Washing- 
ton, before the Federal army took possession, the river being navigable between 
the two points. 

During the three days stay at Tarboro, "Yank" and "Reb" carried on a heavy 
traffic and the men who were fortunate enough to have the Elizabeth City bank 
money found ample opportunity to use it here with advantage. The citizens were 
veritable Shylocks and taking advantage of the necessities of the prisoners held 
every thing at an extortionate price. Before reaching Tarboro the limited rations 
issued by the captors had been entirely exhausted and the men were in a fam- 
ished condition, and in many cases submitted to the extortion to appease the crav- 
ings of the stomach. However, in time the representatives of the commissariat 
made a distribution to each man of a cup of meal, a cup of black peas, a tiny piece 
of bacon and a meager quantity of salt, with kettles and wood to aid in getting 
them into an edible condition. Tarboro being a railroad town, marching was now 
at an end, except to and from stations. The order to leave this place was anxious- 
ly awaited by all, although Tarboro itself, was a pretty town. To men prohibited 
from viewing its beauties there was little attraction, and as the temporary stopping 
place had no barracks or tents to shelter from the sun or rain life here soon be- 
come monotonous. No one had any regret when the order came early in the morn- 
ing of the 29th to fall in. During the forenoon, after a march through one of 
Tarboro's attractive streets, the depot was reached and box cars were boarded, 
and by ten o'clock the train was moving towards Rocky Mount, where the Tar- 
boro branch intersects the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line, in those days 
known as the Petersburg, Weldon and Wilmington Rail Road. A stop was made 
at Goldsboro, 56 miles distant from Tarboro by rail, where rations were issued, 
consisting of three hard crackers, and a small piece of bacon. Wilmington was 
reached during the night, but the prisoners were kept locked in the closed cars 
until after day light, when they alighted and marched to a ferry boat which was 
waiting to convey them across the Cape Fear river. A stop of several hours was 
made on the dock after leaving the ferry boat, when a small loaf of sour wheat 
bread and some bacon were distributed to each man. During the stop here the 
men heard the firing from Federal gunboats which prevented a blockade runner 
from passing out laden with Southern products for foreign ports. They had 
the pleasure of witnessing its return. The smouldering debris of a vast conflagra- 
tion, said to have had its inception through a Federal prisoner-of-war, who had 
deliberately placed a lighted pipe in a bale of cotton was a cause of joyous com- 
ment, rather than of deprecation. The loss was admitted to have been great, esti- 
mated at several millions of dollars in cotton and lumber alone. During the after- 
noon the captives took their departure from Wilmington for the metropolis of 
South Carolina, passing several train loads of Confederate soldiers en route to 
join the army in the direction of Petersburg and Richmond. 

A surprise was given the captives on their arrival in Charleston, Sunday 
morning, Mky i, a place universally regarded as the hot bed of treason, to find 
many evidences of loyalty to the stars and stripes, and numerous expressions of 



64 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

sympathy were in evidence, some even of a tangible nature. However, the stay 
here was limited to two or three hours, when platform cars were boarded, bound 
for Savannah, Georgia. The open cars, although offering no protection from the 
Southern sun, presented an uninterrupted view of the surrounding country, even 
permitting a hazy glimpse of Fort Sumpter from the bridge crossing the Ashley 
river. However, before the journey on these cars came to an end, the pleasures 
and enjoyment of the scenes witnessed, and the draughts of balmy southern air 
fragrant with the perfume of the magnolia blossom, were well paid for by a 
drenching rain. 

At Savannah a change of cars was made, the last change of this pilgrimage, 
for before another day had come the journey was at an end. Previous to reaching' 
Macon a stop was made, rations issued, and the prisoners permitted the privilege 
of a good wash in running water. Another stop of a couple of hours was made 
at Macon and about six o'clock the journey was resumed, and in three or four 
hours, between nine and ten o'clock, Andersonville station was reached, and the 
final railroad journey of hundreds of the men who had so gallantly defended 
the town of Plymouth, two weeks before was forever at an end. As the men left 
the cars, a careful count was made, and after a short march an open field, with 
inviting fires, was reached, where a halt was made for the night. 

Early the next morning, Capt. Henry Wirz made his appearance, who 
with bluster and profanity, intermingled with sinister imprecations, introduced 
himself to the Plymouth captives by supervising their formation into detachments 
of 270 — subdivided into messes of 90, each detachment and subdivision being un- 
der the supervision of a sergeant captive, whose duty it was to draw and issue 
rations and call the roll, the latter being done under the supervision of Confeder- 
ate guards. Early in the forenoon, May 3, (Tuesday) the enlisted men of the 
Regiment, approximating 400 in numbers, entered the Andersonville stockade. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

From the Capture of the Regiment to the Fix.\l Discharge. 

(From April 20, 1864, to July 13, 1865.) 

With the fall of Plymouth the headquarters of the Sub-District of the 
Albemarle was transferred to Roanoke Island. Lieut. Col. Will W. Clark, 85th 
New York Regiment, who had assumed command of Roanoke Island Post on 
April II, was superseded by Col. D. W. Wardrop, of the 99th New York Vol- 
unteers, as commanding officer of the Sub-District of the Albemarle, he retain- 
ing Lieut. Col. Clark on his staff as aide-de-camp. The command of the Regi- 
ment devolved upon Capt. Thomas A. Cochran of Co. C, who had been doing 
garrison duty with his company at Fort Reno, Roanoke Island, for several 
months. As soon as Capt. Cochran assumed command of the Regiment he made 
requisition on the Adjutant General's Office for a copy of the last muster roll of 
the field and staff and the nine companies captured at Plymouth. In due time 
they were received at regimental headquarters. As the army regulations re- 
quired, besides daily and quarterly returns, muster rolls of the field and staff, and 
of every company in the Regiment to be made bi-monthly, in which every man 
in the Regiment had to be accounted for under the head of remarks as these 
had to be made in quadruplicate, an endless task of clerical work devolved upon 
Capt. Cochran. Every man belonging to the absent companies, who was not 
otherwise accounted for on the copy of the muster rolls received was marked as 
"Captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864." In addition to these muster rolls 
of the ten companies, and the field and staff, Capt. Cochran made out a muster 
roll of the detachment, which comprised members of the captured companies, who 
were absent from the Regiment at the time it was captured. At the first mus- 




MAP OF THE OPERATIONS AT ROANOKE ISLAND, N. C. 

(From the official records.) 

The plate from which the above map is printed is the property of the State of North 
Carolina and was prepared for "North Carolina Eegiments." It is used here by courtesy of 
the Gtate. 

Roanoke Island was captured by Gen. Burnside Feb. 7. 1S62. The Confederate names 
of the forts are given in the map. These were changed after its capture by the Federal 
commander in honor of the commanders of the three brigades participating in the capture: 
Brig. Gens. John G. Foster. Jesse L. Reno and John G. Parke. Ft. Bartow became Ft. Foster; 
Ft. Blanchard, Ft. Reno, and Ft. Huger, Ft. Parke. 

After the capitulation of Pl>-mouth, April 20, 1864, Roanoke Island became the head- 
quarters of the Sub-District of the Albemarle, and was garrisoned by fragments of the regi- 
ments captured at Plymouth until the war was practically ended. 



CHRONOLOGIC\L NARRATIVE 65 

ter after the capture of the Regiment, April 30, 1864, there were four men on 
the muster roll of the detachment, viz: John Cupp (Co. E), George W. Dies 
(Co. G), Benjamin Graham and Lemuel Slagle (Co. F). Cupp had been granted 
a furlough for 30 days, October 6, 1863 ; was taken sick, and did not return until 
April 26 ; Dies was absent from the Regiment only a week prior to the capture 
of Plymouth on leave of absence granted by Gen. Wessells ; Graham was a re- 
cruit, arriving after the capture of the Regiment, and Slagle was sent from 
Plymouth hospital after the attack was made, he having been seriously wounded 
three months before. 

By August 31, the following had either arrived at Roanoke Island, or 
official notice had been received at regimental headquarters of their whereabouts : 
Capt. William Fielding (Co. I), ist Lieut. George W. Kelly (Co. H), ist Sergt. 
John H. Brown (Co. D), ist Sergt. Watson C. Mobley (Co. A), Sergt. Thomas 
J. Walters (Co. K), Sergt. John Walters (Co. H), Corp. Thomas Craft (Co. 
K), Corp. Lewis Woolford (Co. E), Privates Augustus Abel (Co. B), John 
Cupp (Co. E), George W. Dies fCo. G), Daniel Greek (Co. G), William Hall- 
man (Co. H), Thomas Jewett (Co. G), Henry Kness (Co. F), George Mush- 
rush (Co. E), Joseph Shill (Co. H), Thomas A. Smith (Co. K), Andrew J. 
Salliards (Co. F), Lemuel Slagle (Co. F), Jethro Warner (Co. G), Samuel A. 
Walker (Co. I), Thomas Burns (Co. K), Helm J. McGill (Co. I), George W. 
Davidson (Co. D). Davidson had been honorably discharged by reason of dis- 
ability on Surgeon's certificate, August 29, 1862. He had lost his discharge, and 
was apprehended as a deserter and sent to the Regiment on May 20, 1864. There 
being no record of why he was dropped from the rolls he was kept on duty with 
the detachment until August 22, 1864, when notice of his discharge was received 
from the War Department. The July and August muster rolls show that 30 
recruits had arrived at the Regiment for the captured companies. The ram 
Albemarle, although secluded up the Roanoke River many miles from Roanoke 
Island, kept the commanding officer of the Sub-District of the Albemarle in con- 
stant dread of an attack from the enemy, much to the annoyance of the men on 
duty on the Island. The negro contrabands were furnished with arms and fre- 
quent orders were issued from headquarters cautioning the troops to be vigilant. 
Col. Lehmann returned to the Regiment in December, 1864, and was immediately 
assigned to the command of the Sub-District of the Albemarle. Capt. Cochran 
was superseded as commanding officer of the Regiment by Capt. Cratty, who 
was his senior in rank. During the early months of 1865, the officers and men, 
who had been prisoners of war, began to return to the Regiment in numbers, and 
by April more than a hundred had arrived. Owing to their long absence, and 
the privations they had suffered, they were allowed many liberties, and were 
practically exempt from duty. When their numbers had approximated a hundred 
they appeared at dress parade as a detachment one evening. It had been nearly 
a year since they had been on dress parade or had drill of any kind. Without 
any preliminary practice, whatever, they executed the manual of arms, as if it 
were done by one man. No company of the Regiment, at any time in its history, 
ever surpassed this detachment in the manipulation of arms, as it was executed 
on this occasion. The freedom given these ex-prisoners of war was not con- 
ducive to discipline, Roanoke Island afforded many opportunities for enjoyment, 
and Scuppernong wine was plentiful. All indications pointed to an early end- 
ing of the war. These men were having one continual holiday, and dances were 
frequently arranged by the Terpsichoreans and citizens on the Island. The 
latter were glad to assist in arranging these, as it gave them an opportunity to 
dispense at a fair profit the Island's principal beverage. In the meantime eight 
companies of new men, with a full complement of commissioned officers, had ar- 
rived to be consolidated -with the Regiment. A similar number had come to the 
Island to be consolidated with the loist Regiment. The officers of these new 



66 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

troops had done service in other Regiments, and were ambitious to gain promo- 
tion. Complaints were frequently made during- this period of depredations com- 
mitted on the Island, mostly from the negro contrabands. Hen roosts were 
robbed so boldly that the blame fell exclusively on the ex-prisoners of war. Col. 
Lehmann issued strict orders that the men should remain at quarters, night and 
day, unless given permission from headquarters to leave. The men paid little 
attention to such orders. The guards from Co. C, and from the detachment 
made up of those who had not been captured and new recruits, permitted the 
ex-prisoners of war to go and come at will, irrespective of orders issued. Col. 
Lehmann had the Island patrolled, day and night, by the new companies. At a 
dance, one night the house where it was held was surrounded, and 25 or 30 men 
were captured by one of these new companies. The prisoners were marched to 
headquarters and put in the guard house. It was a log house with a ground floor, 
with only one door which was locked on the outside by a pad-lock, and adjoin- 
ing it, was a room for the guard-quarters, where the sergeant of the guard, and 
the guard off duty rested. When the men were incarcerated Col. Lehmann was 
notified and he gave orders to have them securely guarded. Shortly after dawn 
the next day the Colonel made his appearance and asked the sergeant in charge 
to unlock the door, all the time expressing condemnation of the imprisoned men 
and threatenening them with punishment. During the time the sergeant was 
opening the door. Col. Lehmann had worked himself into a high state of ex- 
citement with his denunciations — interspersed with thundering expletives. The 
door was opened and the prison was found vacant. A tunnel had been dug and 
the prisoners had worked so stealthily that the guards had no suspicion of an 
attempt being made to escape. The Colonel was in a rage. It was not yet time 
for reveille, but he went immediately to the quarters, and had the men called out 
in line. He first informed the men he knew who the culprits were, and he wanted 
them to step to the front. Not a man stirred. Then he threatened to punish all, 
but the men remained stolid and calm, and acted as though his denunciations and 
threats fell on deaf ears. Orders were issued that day for the entire detachment 
to get ready to move to Coin Jock on the Dismal Swamp Canal. The Colonel 
had determined to isolate them again from civilization as punishment, but this 
made the innocent suffer as well as the guilty, and would also force the commis- 
sioned officers, who had been prisoners of war, into exile also. They protested 
most vigorously, but the Colonel remained obdurate. By erood fortune this pun- 
ishment was interrupted by orders from department headquarters, however 
with no intent to thwart the' Colonel in his purpose. The war was at an end and 
the Regiment was ordered to New Bern. N. C, to be mustered out of the service 
of the United States. This was delayed for some reason, probably for lack of 
transportation, until June 25, 1865. this muster out did not give the men free 
rein to do as they pleased; they were still subject to the orders of the officers, 
and remained so until after they received the final pavment due them, which 
was given them simultaneously with their discharge, at Harrisburg, Penna., July 
13, 1865. Subsequent to the war no one laughed more heartily over the Roanoke 
Island tunnel escape than did Col. Lehmann, when meeting the men who were 
participants in it. 



FIELD AND STAFF 67 

SKETCHES AND REMINISCENCES. 

Col. W. F. Fox, in his "Regimental Losses," perhaps the most trustworthy statistical 
work on regimental casualties in the Civil War published, says : "There are other reasons 
than money or patriotism which induce men to risk life and limb in war. There is the love 
of gloiy and the expectation of honorable recognition. But the private in the ranks ex- 
pects neither. His identity is merged in that of his regiment and its name is every thing. 
He does not expect to see his own name on the page of history, and is content with a proper 
recognition of the old command in which he fought. But he is jealous of the record of his 
regiment, and demands credit for every shot it fired and every grave it filled. The bloody 
laurels for which a regiment contends will always be awarded to the one with the longest 
roll of honor. Scars are the true evidence of wounds and the regimental scars can be seen 
only in the record of its casualties." 

Only seven Pennsylvania Regiments are credited in "Regimental Losses" with more 
deaths, during the war, than the 103d Regiment. From a casual examination of the rosters 
of the regiments whose losses are greater than that of the 103d, the writer believes a careful 
examination will show that a greater number of the original organization of the Regiment — 
slightly less than one thousand — died in the service, than that of any other regiment. While 
it is true the private, or rather enlisted man, is jealous of the record of his regiment, he 
also takes especial pride in the record of his company. As the company is the unit of the 
regimental organization, it seems to the writer, that a sketch of the companies should be an 
important feature of a regimental history. An earnest endeavor has been made to gather 
reliable data as to the organization and special work of the respective companies. Of some 
there have been no authentic data secured, and the references to those are necessarily brief, 
Those having the most extensive notices have caused the writer and his collaborator, less 
labor than those most meagerly mentioned. These company sketches embrace the essential 
features of all the personal reminiscences sent in. Tlie latter chiefly referred to matters al- 
ready fully covered in detail in the narrative of the Regiment and were generally a repeti- 
tion of each other. The biographical notices incorporated into the field and staff and com- 
pany sketches, will be of interest to the surviving comrades, and would have been more 
numerous had the data been forthcoming. 

COL. THEODORE F. LEHMANN. 

The discipline and efficiency of a regiment of volunteer troops depends solely on the 
proficiency in military knowledge and discipline of its commanding officers. A commander 
may be exceptionally brilliant in military science and yet lack the qualities that tend to 
discipline. At the beginning of the war few regiments possessed commanding officers with 
military training, except as acquired in the State militia. The 103d Regiment at its organi- 
zation was deemed most fortunate in possessing in its chief commanding officer a man of 
exceptional proficiency in military knowledge and a strict disciplinarian. Col. Lehmarm 
not only had the early training of a German military school and the experience of several 
years as a commissioned officer in the German army, but he had been identified for several 
months as the second in command of one of the most noted regiments going out from the 
State, thereby acquiring a knowledge of incalculable benefit. As. Col. Lehmann was iden- 
tified with the Regiment at its organization and was mustered out with it after the war had 
ended, a biography of him will be of interest to all those who have followed the activities 
of the Regiment. 

Col. Theodore Frederick Lehmann was born in the town of Eystrup, Germany, in 
the year 1812. He attended the Gymnasium (a preparatory school), in the city of Olden- 
burg, and subsequently the military academy, from which he graduated a second lieutenant 
in 1829. He resigned from the army in 1833, and began the study of drawing and painting, 
for which he possessed great talent, at Dusseldorf, on the Rhine. Later he went to Paris, 
in pursuit of his artistic studies, and from there to Nantes, where he became superintendent 
of the Academy of Fine Arts. Col. Lehmann married there, but shortly after, in 1837, con- 
cluded to try his fortune in America, and came to New York City. He had not resided 



68 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

there long before his eyesight began to give him much trouble, and the health of his young 
wife began to fail. Being offered a position as Civil Engineer in Texas, he went south, 
traveling all the way on horseback. 

In Texas he surveyed and laid out the land for several towns — besides designing 
the boundary lines of g^eat estates. At that time General Houston was Governor of Texas, 
and a cordial friendship was formed between him and Col. Lehmann. 

His wife dying in 1839 Col. Lehmann moved to Frankfort, Kentucky, where he ac- 
cepted a professorship in a college near there, the most prominent college for g^rls in the 
state. 

While residing there Col. Lehmann met and married his second wife. Miss Catherine 
Blanton McMurtry, in 1844. He removed to Henderson, Ky., in 1852, where he established 
a fine school for girls, but shortly after, in 1855, superior inducements being offered in 
Morganfield, a nearby town, he removed his school there. Here, in 1856, his wife and son 
John died of cholera the same day. 

In 1858 Col. Lehmann married Miss Fannie Lloyd, a daughter of Capt. Lloyd, de- 
ceased, of the English army, and shortly after removed to Pittsburg, Pa., where he ac- 
cepted the position of superintendent of one of the public schools. 

The civil war breaking out in 1861 brought prominently into notice the military 
talents and training of Col. Lehmann, and he was commissioned Lieut. Colonel of the 
62d Regt., Penna. Vol. Infantry, at its organization in 1861. He was transferred from the 
62d Regiment to the command of the 103d Regiment, Oct. 30, 1861, assuming command 
of the Regiment Nov. 4, and was mustered out with it at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 
1865, retaining command of it until July 13, 1865, when it was finally discharged and dis- 
banded at Harrisburg. 

Col. Lehmann was a man of many talents. He was an artist and a musician, a 
chemist and a civil engineer, a linguist and an inventor. His eldest son, in a letter before 
the writer, says of his father: 

"The fly in the ointment" was his utter lack of all business ability. One night in New 
York City, among a party of gentlemen, he made a remark I have never forgotten. Said 
he, "The German scientist is nearly always like a blind heft : She scratches for her chick- 
ens, but cannot scratch for herself," and therein lay his own story. He lacked the element 
of business to turn his own work of chemical investigation and inventions to advantage 
and others reaped the benefit or they were lost." 

When his relations with the army were severed Col. Lehmann returned to Pittsburgh, 
and engaged in civil engineering. His wife died in 1891, and he removed to Washington, 
D. C, where he died on Friday, Dec. 6, 1894, aged 82 years. He was buried under the 
au.spices of the G. A. R., Department of the Potomac, on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 8, 1894. 

At the present writing (1910), the following children of Col. Lehmann still survive 
him: Chas. A. Lehmann, New Albany, Ind. ; Mrs. Fred. A. Lehmann (daughter-in-law); 
Mrs. Kate Zimmerman, Miss Lucy I. Lehmann, Washington, D. C. ; Mrs. J. Ed. Cowen, 
Ernest Lehmann, Mrs. Alice Gilbert, Pittsburgh, Penna. 

LIEUT. COL. WILSON C. MAXWELL. 

The Civil War demonstrated one important fact, that to preserve this Republic a 
large standing army is unnecessary. And while military training schools for officers may 
be necessary, yet even without them, situated as we are, we would have little to fear from 
outside nations. 

In its lieutenant-colonel the 103d Regiment selected a man without any military 
knowledge, and yet it is doubtful if any one who served with the Regiment from the be- 
ginning to the end would not concede that the Regiment made no mistake when it 
selected Wilson C. Maxwell as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment. Just how it came 
that this selection was made may never be made perfectly clear. The strong personality 
of Lieut.-Col. Maxwell was, no doubt, a dominating factor. There were three men in the 
Regiment more mature in years and who, for that time, were regarded as military men, 
who had been identified with the Regiment from its incipient organization, on either of 



FIELD AND STAFF 69 

whom, it would seem, this position should have gone in preference to this quiet, young 
man who lately came to the Regiment, viz : Captains Laughlin, Gillespie and Townsend. 
Perhaps it may ha-ve been the rivalry between these men for the position that made it 
possible for Lieut.-Col. Maxwell to assume the role of a "dark horse." In the archives of 
the State, there is preserved a petition, signed by fully three-fourths of the Regiment, re- 
questing Gov. Curtin to appoint Capt. Wilson C. Maxwell to the Lieutenant Colonelcy. 

Lieutenant Colonel Wilson C. Maxwell was born in 1840 on a farm near Clintonville, 
Venango County, Penna. He received his school education in the district schools of the 
County and at Jame's Union Academy, Clintonville. Before he had attained his majority 
he became a district school teacher and attained a high reputation in the neighborhood 
where he was reared as an instructor. His parents moving from Venango County to Har- 
risville, Butler Count}-, a short time before the war, he was a resident of that place when 
the war began. However, on the discovery of oil in Venango County, he became identified 
with the oil business on Oil Creek, and first gave evidence of a predilection for military 
life while there. During the summer of 1861 he assisted in recruiting a cavalry company 
in Venango County, and was promised a lieutenancy in the company. After the company 
arrived at Harrisburg, or Philadelphia, there was a disagreement and Maxwell severed 
his relations with the cavalrj'. Before returning home he received authority from Gov. 
Curtin to recruit a company, and as soon as he arrived at Harrisville, he went to work 
with great enthusiasm at raising another company, the result of which is told in a sketch 
of Company I, in this volume. 

Lieut. Col. Maxwell's military career has already been told in the chronological nar- 
rative of the Regiment, and in the official reports. He commanded the Regiment, and was 
captured with it at Phmouth, N. C. During his imprisonment he contracted disease which 
baffied the best medical skill. He was paroled November 1, 1864, and discharged on ac- 
count of his health, December 15, 1864. He returned to his home at Harrisville, and al- 
though receiving the best of medical aid he gradually weakened until final dissolution came. 
A comrade who was at his bedside when the last summons came, J. W. Orr (since de- 
ceased), wrote : 

"The night of his death two comrades sat beside him to hear what he might say, 
John W. Shull, just returned from the 78th, and myself. His last words were, 'Turn me 
over a little again, boys.' Seeing the end fast approaching, we summoned the family, the 
goodbyes were said, and Col. Maxwell passed peacefully into the great beyond. The cort- 
ege of the funeral was large, the 'boys' who had returned from the war forming an escort 
on either side of the hearse, under command of Capt. Hugh A. Ayres of the 78th Regi- 
ment. He was buried in Prairie Cemetery, at Harrisville, Pa., along side the brother whose 
remains he had sent home from Yorktown in May, 1862." 

Lieut. Col. Wilson C. Maxwell was a representative of the highest and best citizen- 
ship of the young manhood of America, who responded to the call of Abraham Lincoln. 
He was in the highest sense a good man — he was a good soldier. 

MAJ. AUDLEY W. GAZZAM. 

Audley William Gazzam, Major of the 103d Regiment, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
May 8, 1836. He was the eldest son of Dr. Edward Despard Gazzam, also a native of 
Pittsburgh, having been born in that city in 1803. Maj. Gazzam's father was at one time 
postmaster of Pittsburgh, and had the distinction of having been the first Republican State 
Senator from Allegheny County, having been elected to that position in 1856. At an early 
age Maj. Gazzam was admitted to the Allegheny County bar. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War he was President of the Firemen's Association of Pittsburgh, from which body he 
recruited a company for the three months' service, known as the Fire Zouaves, of which 
he was captain. On March 1, 1862, he was appointed and mustered as Major of the 103d 
Penna. Regiment, his commission and muster dating from Nov. 1, 1861. 

Owing to the absence of the Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel the command of the Regi- 
ment devolved upon Maj. Gazzam during most of the Peninsula campaign. It was under 
his leadership that the Regiment received its baptism of fire at the battle of Williamsburg, 



70 103D PENNSYLV.-\aNIIA REGIMENT 

and it was under his command that the Regiment checked the advance of Garland's 
Brigade of a half dozen regiments of Hill's Division, which led the attack of Casey's Di- 
vision at the battle of Fair Oaks. While leading the Regiment in the dense woods in front 
of the abatis in advance of Casey's position Maj. Gazzam was swept from his horse by the 
limb of a tree, and was momentarily stunned by his head striking a log in the fall. How- 
ever, he quickly regained his feet, remounted, and after the Regiment had been scattered 
into fragments by the overwhelming force of the enemy, and the almost impenetrable 
woods through which it had to retire, succeeded in rallying nearly two hundred of the 
men, and kept them together throughout the day. The immense strain of this campaign, 
and the continued exposure finally compelled Maj. Gazzam to succumb to disease, and 
after the Regiment arrived at Harrison's Landing, he was sent to the General Hospital at 
Fortress Monroe. Subsequently he returned to the Regiment at New Bern, N. C, and 
remained with it until the Autumn of 1863, when he was sent to Pennsylvania on recruiting 
service. His impaired physical condition caused him to be transferred to the Veteran Reserve 
Corps, and he remained in this department of the service until after the end of the war, 
when he resigned, his resignation being accepted in July, 1865. After severing his connec- 
tion with the army Maj. Gazzam removed to Utica, N. Y. ; subsequently moving to New 
York and later to Philadelphia, where he continued to reside until his death, which oc- 
curred after an illness of but a few hours, on Saturday, May 10, 1884. At the time of his 
death he was attorney general for the National Cremation Society, and he was the first 
member of that society to be cremated, the incineration taking place at the La Moyne Crema- 
tory, Washington, Penna., then the only crematory in the United States. The ashes were 
taken to Utica, N. Y., and buried in the family lot in Forest Hill Cemetery in conformity 
to the written desire of Maj. Gazzam. Maj. Gazzam was well known in Pittsburgh, Utica, 
New York City and Philadelphia as a lawyer of ability, making a specialty of bankruptcy 
cases. This branch of the law is indebted to him for several important works, among them 
being "Gazzam in Bankruptcy" and a "Digest of American and English Decisions in Bank- 
ruptcy." 

Maj. Gazzam was twice married : the first time at Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mary Elizabeth 
Van Deusen, daughter of Rev. Edwin M. Van Deusen, formerly rector of St. Peter's P. E. 
Church, Pittsburgh, and of Grace Church, Utica, N. Y. Mrs. Mary Gazzam died in Utica, 
N. Y., April 12, 1871. His second marriage, to Isabella Rogers, of New York, occurred in 
1876. Mrs. Gazzam is now (1909) residing at South Norwalk, Conn. 

Children of Maj. Gazzam and Mary Elizabeth Van Deusen Gazzam: Antoinette 
Elizabeth; married to John Stanley Frederick of Baltimore, Md. She is now (1909) re- 
siding at Miami, Florida. Mary Van Deusen; married to the Rev. George Abbott Hunt, 
of the P. E. Church; resides now (1909) at Narberth, Penna. Dr. Edwin Van Deusen 
Gazzam, who graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 1892, 
and who for ten years successfully practised medicine in New York City. Owing to serious 
injuries received in a cable car accident he was obliged to relinquish his profession for 
nearly a year, and then moved to his old home, at Utica, N. Y., where he is now (1907) 
in active practice. He was married to Miss Clara Margaret Griffith, of Utica, N. Y. Irene 
Gilbert; married to Edward Hagaman Hall, of New York City; Mr. and Mrs. Hall now 
(1907) reside at 12 West 103d street. New York city. Maria Florence, married George W. 
Kosel, of Homestead, Florida, where they reside now (1907). 

Children of Major Gazzam and Isabelle Rogers Gazzam: Joseph Murphy Gazzam, 
Jr., Attorney at Law; in 1903 married Miss May Perkins Lewis, of New London, Conn.; 
address (1907) 44 Court street. Brooklyn, N. Y. ; residence 201 Ginton street, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. Lilabel Gazzam, present address (1907) South Norwalk, Conn., where she resides 
with her mother. 

In the first dispatches from the battle field of Fair Oaks, Major Gazzam was reported 
among the dead. His younger brother, the Hon. Joseph M. Gazzam, then residing at Pitts- 
burgh, at once started for the battle field for the remains of his brother, but much to his 
surprise and joy, among the very first persons to greet him on his arrival on the Peninsula 
was Maj. Gazzam. Hon. Joseph M. Gazzam now (1909) resides at Philadelphia, Penna. 



FIELD AXD STAFF 



71 



MAJ. JAMES F. MACKEY. 

Major James F. Macke}- was mustered into the service as Captain of Co. H, to date 
from Feb. 20, 18G2. He was the most fortunate of all the original captains of the Regiment 
in retaining his health, and participated with the Regiment in all its campaigns, from the 
battle of Williamsburg until the final capitulation at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64. Capt. 
Mackey was a man of the highest probity and was universally esteemed by the officers and 
men of the Regiment. The contents of his diary while a prisoner of war, which appears 
in this volume, will give the reader an index as to his character. The history of the Regi- 
ment tells his military career. Maj. Mackey was a good soldier, a conscientious officer, 
and exemplified in the highest degree a true disciple of the divine Master throughout his 
entire army career. 

Maj. Mackey was mustered out of the service as Captain of Company H on March 
12, 1865, on account of reduction of command. Subsequently he was, by order of the War 
Department, mustered as Major to date from December 15, 1864. After the war he en- 
gaged in the oil business, residing at Franklin, Penna. His death occurred at his residence 
at Franklin, Friday evening, May 11, 1883, in the 62d year of his age. 

ADJT. SAMUEL B. KENNEDY. 
Adjutant Samuel B. Kennedy was a protege of Col. Lehmann, and was among the 
very first appointments made by the Colonel after he assumed command of the Regiment. 
Lieut. Alvin H. Alexander had been acting as adjutant of the Regiment, and the advent 
of Kennedy, to supplant Alexander, without the concurrence of Col. Finlay, caused some 
friction between the Colonel and some of the Company officers. Adjutant' Kennedy was 
suave and tactful, and soon gained the good will of both officers and men. He was acci- 
dentally wounded by a shot from a revolver in the hands of Capt. Laughlin, at Suffolk, 
Va., and as a result was discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Nov. 29, 1862. Adjutant Ken- 
nedy's father kept a gun store on 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., during and subsequent to 
the war, and for a time after he left the army the Adjutant was identified with the busi- 
ness, but seemed always as though he desired to keep aloof from his former comrades 
in arms. 

ADJT. WILLIAM H. IRWIN. 

Adjutant William H. Irwin was mustered into service as First Lieutenant of Com- 
pany G, Jan. 10, 1862. Adjutant Irwin, while very quiet and reserved in manner was 
very popular with both officers and men. He was with the Regiment in all its marches 
and engagements from the Peninsula campaign until it was captured at Plymouth, N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64, and was paroled at Wilmington, N. C, March 1, 1865. The writer has before 
him several letters written from Confederate prisons by Adjutant Irwin to his father 
then an eminent citizen of Allegheny City, Pa. These letters are published here because 
they will not only be of interest to all surviving members of the Regiment, but because 
they also give a different insight into Southern prison life from that generally published. 

C S. Military Prison, Charleston, S. C, Sept. 24, 1864. 

Dear Father: I wrote to mother by the last flag of truce communication and re- 
quested her to tell you to send me some money. For fear that she should not receive the 
letter I thought I would write to you. I wish you would please send me twenty dollars in 
gold, or Fifty dollars in U. S. currency (whichever is the most convenient) by Adams Ex- 
press to Hilton Head, care of Maj. Gen. Foster. I also need some clothing, which you can 
send the same way. One pair boots ; one pair pants ; two flannel shirts, two pr. drawers, 
three or four pr. socks, towels, brush and comb; one tin plate, knife, fork and spoon. A 
small quantity of coffee and sugar, and anything else you can send 'in a small box. My 
health is very good, and I am getting along very well. 

Affectionately, your son, Wili. 

C. S. Military Prison, Columbia, S. C, Oct. 13, 1864. 

Dear Father : Your letter of the 16th ult. came to hand on the 4th inst. Glad to hear 
that you are all well at home. On the 5th inst we were removed from Charleston to Colum- 
bia and are now encamped about two miles from the city. We are not verj- comfortably sit- 
uated at present, but probably will be in a few days. I am glad to hear that you are going 



72 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

to send me a box. I trust I may get it soon. Capt. Robinson, Capt. Chalfant and Lieut. 
Spence are well. Capt. Robinson received a box from home last week, and Capt. Chalfant 
received one at Charleston. My health is good. Write soon and direct to Columbia. 

Affectionately, your son, 

Wm. H. Irwin. 
C. S. MiLiT.\RY Prison, Columbia, S. C, Nov. 27, 1864. 
Dear Father : I thank you for the box you sent me. It came to hand in good order on 
the 23d inst. and the articles it contained were very acceptable. I received two letters yes- 
terday, one from Hannah and one from Jack. I wrote to you when I was at Charleston 
for some clothing that I required. If you received the letter I would like for you to send 
me the articles immediately as I expect to spend the winter in the Confederacy. I am very 
comfortably situated at present. Capt. Robinson and Lieut. Spence are well. Do not be 
anxious about me. I am "all right." Aff. your son, 

Wm. H. Irwin. 
C. S. Military Prison, Columbia, S. C, Dec. 9, 1864. 
Dear Father : Your letter dated Oct. 22, '64, came to hand this A. M. Glad to hear 
that you are all well at home. I have not received the money you sent me but I think I will 
get it sometime soon. Capt. Robinson and Col. Frasier are going to start for home this A. M. 
Capt. R. will call and see you, and tell you how I am getting along, etc. I rec'd the box you 
sent me in good order and it was very acceptable. I wrote to you acknowledging the receipt 
of it soon after I got it. My health is good, but I am very anxious to be exchanged. 

Aifec. your son, Will H. Irwin. 

P. S. I rec'd a letter from mother this A. M., dated Oct. 28, 1864, and will answer it 
in a few days. Will. 

Officers' Hospital, Annapolis, Md., March 6, 1865. 
Dear Father: I arrived here last evening from Wilmington, N. C, where I was de- 
livered to our authorities on the 1st inst. I will have to remain here until I am paid and 
receive my leave of absence before I can start for home. I have very comfortable quarters, 
and it is possible that I will not get my leave for a week or ten days, therefore I would like 
to hear how you are all getting along at home. I am well, and hope to see you soon. 

Affectionately, your son, 

Wm. H. Irwin. 

After his return from the army Adjutant Irwin engaged in the foundry business, 
and for many years before his death was the successful proprietor of the Rosedale 
Foundry in Allegheny, Pa., now known as the Rosedale Foundry and Machine Works, 
and of which Adjutant Irwin's son, Henry T. Irwin, is manager. 

QUAR. MAS. OLIVER R. McNARY. 

The Quarter Master of the Regiment, Oliver R. McNary, was mustered into the 
service March 1, 1862. Just what influence obtained him the position is not shown by the 
record and it is not known to the surviving members. As he took no part in recruiting the 
Regiment, and was not known to the officers and men of the Regiment until after they had 
left the State, his selection was probably made by Col. Lehmann. He was an efficient 
officer, and was captured with the Regiment at Plymouth, and was for a long time a pris- 
oner of war, was finally paroled, but never returned to the Regiment. After his ex- 
change was effected he was on detached service, continuing so when the Regiment was 
mustered out. After the war he was quite active in the "Prisoners of War Association," 
and was appointed historian of the organization. 

SURG. WILLIAM R. STAVELY. 

Surgeon William R. Stavely was mustered into the service Nov. 21, 1861, and took 
an active part in the troubles that arose between Col. Finlay and Col. Lehmann. The lat- 
ter sent him to Harrisburg, to present his side of the controversy. Later, however, he 
and Col. Lehmann quarreled, and he resigned Nov. 19, 1862, lacking two days of one year 
in the service. 

SURG. ABRAHAM P. FRICK. 

Surgeon A. P. Frick was promoted to Surgeon of the Regiment on Nov. 24, 1862, com- 
ing from the 101st Regiment, in which he had been mustered as Assistant Surgeon 
October 15, 1861. Surgeon Frick remained with the Regiment until it was captured at 



FIELD AND STAFF 73 

Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864. He remained at Plymouth for three days after the sur- 
render attending to the wounded, and accompanied Gen. Wessells and staff to Libby 
Prison, at Richmond, Va. After a confinement there of only three or four day, he was 
unconditionally released as a non-combatant. After his reslease he was ordered to return 
to the Regiment, after a twenty days' leave of absence. En route to the Regiment, he 
was assigned to duty for several weeks at a hospital at Fortress Monroe, after which 
he was assigned to duty as Surgeon-in-chief of the Sub-District of the Albemarle, with 
headquarters at Roanoke Island, N. C. He was discharged from the service Jan. 25, 1865, 
and when last heard from, September 18, 1906, his residence was in the State of Texas. 

SURG. JOHN Q. A. MEREDITH. 
Surgeon John Q. A. Meredith was mustered into the service July 1, 1862, as As- 
sistant Surgeon of the Regiment. He was also captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 
1864, with the Regiment. However, he was not so fortunate as Surgeon Frick, as he was 
forced to stay in the Confederate prisons for several months, with the officers, as if he 
were a combatant. He finally succeeded in getting unconditionally released and returned 
to the Regiment. He was promoted to Surgeon March 23. 1865, and was mustered out 
with the Regiment, June 25, 1865. 

ASSISTANT SURGEONS. 

Assistant Surgeon Theodore Jacobs was mustered into the service, Nov. 19, 1861, 
and resigned June 25, 1862. 

.•\ssistant Surgeon David M. Marshall was mustered into the service August 6, 1862 ; 
and remained with the Regiment until Jan. 28, 1863, when he was promoted to Surgeon 
of the I67th Penna. Regiment. 

Assistant Surgeon John T. Walton was mustered into the service March 18, 1863. 
He was captured at Plymouth, N. C., April 20, 1864 ; was unconditionally released and 
returned to duty with the Regiment in October, 1864, and was promoted to Surgeon of 
the 78th Penna. Regiment June 19, 18G5. 

CHAPLAINS. 
REV. DAVID McCAY. 

The Regiment had three Chaplains during its term of service, and most of the time 
was without the service of any. 

Rev. David McCay was mustered into service as Chaplain of the Regiment Feb. 22, 
1862. At the outbreak of the war he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Callensburg, 
Clarion Co., Penna. During his pastorate at Callensburg, Rev. McCay was instrumental 
in establishing an academy at that place, in which many of the young men of Company 
A had been students. During the Peninsular campaign Chaplain McCay contracted typhoid 
fever. During his illness he resigned, his resignation taking effect May 17, 1862. When 
returning home from the army Chaplain McCay visited the scenes of his boyhood 
days at Lewistown, Penna., and while there succumbed to his illness, sometime during the 
month of June, 1862. His remains were taken to Callensburg for interment. 

Rev. McCay was born Feb. 17, 1816. He graduated from Jefferson College, June, 
1838, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1841. He went to Clarion County in 
1842, where he was pastor of three churches, remaining there until he entered on the 
duties as Chaplain of the Regiment. Chaplain McCay was an excellent singer and could 
lead the music in any assembly. He left four children, one of whom died in childhood. 
Three daughters are still living: Mrs. Thomas D. Davis. 261 Sliady Ave.. Pittsburgh, 
Pa. ; Mrs. John M. Pardee, 502 Collins Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Hodessa J. McCay, Man- 
chester, Ky., the latter being engaged in missionary work. 

Chaplain McCay was well esteemed by both officers and men and it was with pro- 
found regret to the religious men of the Regiment that he was compelled to leave the 
service. On a memoranda page of a diary before the writer is the following notation: 
"Our Chaplain's parting words, 'This is in all human probability the last time I will meet 



74 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

with you. If I would have a parting word it would be "Trust in God." Carry on these 
meetings ; He, who is stronger than any human assistance, promises to be with you.' " 

REV. THEODORE BIRD. 
Rev. Theodore Bird, the second Chaplain of the Regiment, was mustered into the 
service October 13, 1862, and resigned February 13, 1863. During his chaplaincy of four 
months the activities of the Regiment were such that comparatively few of the enlisted 
men of the Regiment made his acquaintance. 

REV. JOHN H. ROWLING. 
Rev. John H. Rowling, the tJiird and last Chaplain assigned to the Regiment, was 
mustered into the service December 26, 1863, and honorably discharged from the service 
May 31, 1864, as per Special Order, No. 192, War Dept., on account of physical disability. 
During the nearly four years' service of the Regiment, the aggregate service covered by 
the three Chaplains was less than a year. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Henry H. Bell, the first Sergeant Major of the Regiment, was mustered into the 
service in Co. F., Dec. 7, 1861 ; transferred to Co. G. Jan. 10, 1862, and transferred to the 
Regimental staff on same date. Bell's health was poor and he did little service with the 
Regiment and was discharged early in 1862. 

During the absence of Sergt. Maj. Bell and for a time after his discharge. Private 
Samuel Murphy officiated. Samuel Murphy was promoted to Sergt. Major Sept. 1, 1862, 
from Co. C. and served as such until Jan. 1, 1863, when he was appointed acting second 
lieutenant of Co. K., but was carried on the rolls of Co. C. as sergeant 

James H. Chambers was promoted to Sergt. Major Jan. 1, 1863. He vi'as one of 
the original sergeants of Co. C. and had been color bearer of the Regiment from the time 
it had received its colors. He was promoted to 1st Lieut. Co. F., July 4, 1863, having acted 
as such from May 1, 1863. 

John C. Applegate was promoted to Sergt. Major May 1,1863. He was transferred 
to the field and staff from Co. I. and was discharged from the service Feb. 14, 1865. Watson 
C. Mobley was appointed sergeant major April 19, 1865, from first sergeant of Co. A. 
Mobley was absent on recruiting service when his company was captured, but returned to 
the Regiment early in the summer of 1864. He was mustered out with the Regiment June 
25, 1865, and finally discharged July 13, 1865. 

Joseph B. Pollock served as Quarter Master Sergeant of the Regiment from its 
organization until it was mustered out, except while absent as a prisoner of war. 

Charles C. Lang was appointed Hospital Steward at the organization of the Regi- 
ment. He was transferred from Co. C, in which he was mustered Sept. 16, 1861. He 
was captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864, and paroled March 30, 1865. He was 
discharged May 30, 1865, more than eight months after his three years' term of enlistment 
had expired. Norval D. Goe was appointed to succeed Hosp. Stew. Lang May 31, 1865. 
He had been Assistant Hospital Steward before the Regiment was captured, and after 
his return from southern prisons assumed the full functions of the oflfice, and was mustered 
out with the Field and Staff June 25, 1865, receiving his final discharge July 13, 1865, at 
Harrisburg, Pa. Thomas J. Laughlin was appointed Commissary Sergeant at the organ- 
ization of the Regiment. He was mustered into the service Sept. 7, 1861, in Co. A, from 
which he was transferred to Co. G, in order to credit that company with the position. He 
was captured at Plymouth, and died at Andersonville Nov. 4, 1864. He was succeeded by 
Private John R. Kron, of Co. G, who was mustered into the service in that company Jan. 
10, 1862, had re-enlisted as a veteran and had been a prisoner of war, paroled, and re- 
turned to the Regiment. Kron was mustered out with the Field and Staff June 25, 1865, 
receiving his final discharge at Harrisburg July 13, 1865, as Commissary Sergeant. 
THE SUTLER AND HIS CLERK. 

Two men who were not mustered into the service, but who were identified with the 
Regiment from the time it engaged actively on duty until it was captured deserve recogni- 



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PENNSYLVANIA MONUMENT, NATIONAL CEMETERY. 
ANDERSONVILLE, GA. 



COMPANY A 75 

tion in a history of the Regiment, viz: Sutler Adolph Krebs and his chief clerk, C. L. 
Straub, the latter familiarly known to the boys as "Louie." No Sutler was held in higher 
esteem by the officers and men of the regiment to which he was attached than was Mr. 
Krebs. Absolutely honest and upright in all his dealings, his bills were never disputed, and 
he was never censured for charging extortionate prices. Especially to the officers of the 
Regiment was he a "friend in need," as he was always supplied with the "sinews of war," 
even if the exigencies of the service prevented him from getting his store supplies. In emer- 
gencies the enlisted men did not hesitate to call on him for cash, and in a measure he was 
the banker of the Regiment. He was captured with the Regiment at Plymouth and suf- 
fered the privations of Andersonville, for nearly a year the same as if he had been an en- 
listed man. On his release he was so ill and emaciated that several months elapsed before 
he recovered his health. He conducted a lithographing establishment at Pittsburgh, which 
he relinquished to become Sutler. After the war he returned to his former vocation, 
establishing his business at Cincinnati, conducting it successfully until his death, which oc- 
curred some years ago. "Louie" Straub was a brother-in-law of Sutler Krebs, the latter 
being married to his sister. He was one of the "boys" of the Regiment, and frequently ac- 
companied them on expeditions, carrying a musket. He narrowly escaped capture on the 
Peninsula when Stuart made his raid in rear of the army. He was coming up with sup- 
plies and hearing the enemy was in the rear he secluded his wagon in a copse until after 
the raiders disappeared. He was at Plymouth when the attack was made but left to bring 
up some stores, but was prevented from returning by the success of the ram Albemarle. He 
has been identified with the insurance business at Pittsburgh since the war. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY A. 

Callensburg, Clarion County, furnished the first group of men to enter the rendezvous 
camp who were enrolled in the 103d Regiment. Capt. Reynolds Laughlin with fifteen men 
arrived at Camp Orr, Kittanning, on Aug. 30, 1861, all of whom came from Callensburg, 
or from the townships contiguous to it. A number of these had been students at the Cal- 
lensburg Academj', an institution established in 1858, largely through the instrumentality of 
Rev. David McCay, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Callensburg, and who became 
the first chaplain of the 103d Regiment. Capt. Laughlin was assisted in recruiting the com- 
pany by Alvin H. Alexander, Watson C. Mobley, Norval D. Goe, and George D. Schott. 
The village of Callensburg furnished in all 21 members of Co. A, viz : Reynolds Laughlin, 
Alvin H. Alexander, George D. Schott, Watson C. Mobley, Norval D. Goe, Reed Goe, David 
I. Wallace, David R. Frampton, William G. Davis, Reed Beggs, Robert C. Thom, Joseph 
K Vaughn, Simeon H. Kiester, Gazzam Stewart, John Williams, Peter M. Dunkle, Isaac 
Guiher, Justus George, John Williams, Thomas Dimkle, Matthew H. Dunkle and John M. 
Laughlin ; all but the last two named were among the first enrolled. 

Co. A was not only the first company of the Regiment to be represented at the ren- 
dezvous camp, but it was the first company to have its maximum quota. In fact, before the 
Regiment left Camp Orr the enlistments to this company exceeded the maximum quota by 
18, the entire enrollment of the company while at the rendezvous camp being 121. Before 
the Regiment left Camp Orr the Co. was reduced to the maximum quota by transferring 
the excess to other companies of the Regiment, five being discharged on Surgeon's certificate 
of disability, and three, who failed to return to the company, were marked on the rolls 
as deserters ; the latter were John Rider, Samuel Reedy and Jacob Barr, 2d. Those dis- 
charged on Surgeon's certificate at Camp Orr were Amos Highblower, George W. Reedy, 
Uriah Saxton, James Stanford, and William Whitman. The following were transferred 
to other companies: Lewis Barlett (Co. C), John Myers (Co. E), David Anderson, Sam- 
uel A. Mooney, and Milton Thompson (Co. F), Jacob Weaver, Thomas Moore, Thomas 
J. Laughlin, Albert M. Russell and George Shakely (Co. G). The following were killed 
in battle or died of wounds received in action : 2d Lieut. Geo. D. Schott, Corp. Alvin C. 
Grandy ; Privates Jacob Barr, 1st; John R. Bowman, Corp. Elias Myers and Private Edward 
Loughner; the first four at the battle of Fair Oaks, and the two latter at the battle of 
Kinston. According to the last return prior to the battle of Plymouth, Co. A had 56 men 



7« 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

present when the Regiment was captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864. Of these 17 
died while prisoners of war, or immediately after being released. They were: William B. 
Cunningham (Camp Parole), George Echelberger (Charleston, S. C), Thomas M. George 
(Charleston, S. C), George Hahn (Camp Parole), Israel D. Hughes (Florence), John N. 
Kiester (Andersonville), Edward Kremp (Andersonville), John Loughner (Camp Parole), 
Sylvanus G. Rosansteel (Florence), Amaziah Saxton (Florence), Henry Schorman (Flor- 
ence), Corp. Joseph B. Stewart (Andersonville), David L. Vandyke (Andersonville), Jo- 
seph K. Vaughn (Andersonville), Sergt. James S. Wilhelm (Florence), William Wion 
(Florence). Fourteen others of Co. A died of disease while in the service. Of the original 
enrollment the following were mustered out with the Co. at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, 
and received their final discharge at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865 : Capt. A. H. Alexander, 
1st Sergt. S. F. Shields, Sergt. W. Gaithers, Corp. J. S. Cooper, Corp. S. Judson, Corp. J. 
Moyer, Corp. C. G. W. Stover; Privates C. B. Alt, D. Barnacle, Reed G. Beggs, O. W. 
Colweil, P. M. EHinkle, D. R. Frampton, Andrew Guiher, Clark Guiher, Sylvester McCall, 
Adam Myers, Walter R. Smail, Patrick Smith, Gazzam Stewart, Absalom S. Tims, Jere- 
miah P. Wilson. Quite a number of others of the original enrollment of Co. A, who had 
been transferred to the field and staff and to other companies, were mustered out with the 
Regiment, viz: Sergt. Maj. W. C. Mobley, Quar. Mas. Sergt. Joseph B. Pollock, Hosp. 
Stew. Norval D. Goe. Music. Lewis Barlett (Co. C), Private Albert M. Russell (Co. G). 
Patrick Smith was absent when the Co. was mustered out and did not receive his discharge 
until August 3, 1865, which was to date from June 25, 1865. Thirteen were discharged by 
General Orders of the War Department, after being released as prisoners of war, some of 
whom were sick or absent on furlough when the Co. was mustered out. 

The following were wounded in the battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862: William 
B. Cunningham, Matthew H. Dunkle, Thomas Dunkle, Justus (George, Ed. W. Loughner, 
Sylvester McCall, George W. Paup, Andrew Reese, William H. H. Thomas ; at the battle 
of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, 1862: Joseph Kremp (2d Lieut.), Oliver McCall, Elias Myers, 
George Echelberger, George Hahn, Ed. W. Loughner, Daniel N. Titus ; at battle of Ply- 
mouth : Jeremiah P. Wilson and Andrew Guiher. 

Lieut. George D. Schott. who was killed in the advance at Seven Pines, was from 
Callensburg, Clarion Co., Pa. His final papers, in the Auditor's Office of the War Depart- 
ment, show that he was married to Caroline E. Glaze, Sept. 7, 1854. 

Shortly after the Goldsboro expedition, while the Regiment lay at New Bern, N. C, 
Capt. Laughlin tendered his resignation in the following terms : 

'•Headquarters lOSd P V.. New Bern, N. C, Jan. 20, 1S63. 
"To Col. Southard Hoffman. A. A. G, 18th Army Corps : 

"Having served as a line officer in the 103d Penna. Vols, for over eighteen months, 
and having been exposed to all the vicissitudes of the campaign on the Peninsula, and 
being in my 56rh year, my declining health admonishes me that to attempt to do the duties 
of a line officer any longer would be injustice to myself, as well as injuiious to the service 
to which I have been so long attached ; I, therefore, for the above, and many other reasons, 
do hereby tender to you my resignation of the office of Captain Co. A, 103d Reg't, Penna. 
Vols. R. Laughlin." 

Capt. Laughlin's departure from the Regiment was pretty generally regretted by the 
men and by most of the officers. He was a courageous man, brave even to rashness, and 
the men admired him most because of this quality. He had his enemies among the officers, 
chiefly due to his brusque, outspoken manner. Had he been called on by the commanding 
general of the 18th Army Corps to give the "many other reasons" for tendering his resigna- 
tion, he would have been delighted. 

Co. A was assigned to garrison the main fortification at Plymouth, N. C, Fort Will- 
iams, when the brigade moved to that place. It was the central fortification, mounting six 
guns — four 32-pounders — and two 6-pounders. A few days before the attack was made on 
that place the Co. was relieved by a Co. of the 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, under Capt. Ira 
B. Sampson, but when Gen. Wessels realized the enemy's movement was formidable, he 
immediately sent orders to have Capt. Alexander return to the Fort with his Co., and it was 
among the last to surrender, Gen. Wessells making his headquarters in Fort Williams. 



COMPANY B 77 

On Wednesday morning, before the surrender of the garrison, an enlisted man lay 
wounded outside Fort Williams. Although it seemed like certain death to venture above 
the parapet of the Fort, "Terry" Wilson of Co. A did not hesitate a moment, but jumped 
down over the parapet, grabbed the v^-ounded man, and brought him in to the Fort by climb- 
ing up the parapet, however, receiving a severe wound in the thighs before reaching cover. 
Andrew Guiher, while manning a gun in Fort Williams, received a wound in the face, a 
musket ball striking him below the right eye and passing diagonally through the head with- 
out touching a vital spot. Although a prisoner of war for more than eight months, he re- 
covered, and was mustered out with the Co. "Jerry" Wilson also passed through the Con- 
federate prisons safeh', and was mustered out with the Co. 

Among the few of the 103d Regiment who were prisoners of war, and who took the 
oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, was Philander Everett of Co. A. In the archives of 
the State of Pennsylvania is a letter from him which is a defense of his course. As Everett 
was a good soldier before his capture, and re-enlisted as a Veteran, he certainly is entitled 
to a hearing, and the letter is produced here in full. It is as follows: 

"Winnemucca, Nevada, Oct. 18, 1885. 
"Hon. Pressley N. Guthrie, Harrisburg, Pa. 

Dear sir: Having occasion to again address you, I take the liberty to do so. I have 
written to the Adjutant General of the U. S. Army at Washington three times for an 
honorable discharge. His reply to each is that I have no consideration in that olBce ; that 
I appear on the rolls at his office as having enlisted in the Rebel army, and was recaptured 
in arms against the Government. As to the enlisting, I do not deny it. Under the cir- 
cumstances I feel justified. I had been a prisoner for nearly a year; and that I did as 
many others did at the same time. After thinking the matter over I came to the con- 
clusion that it was the only thing we could do to save our lives. We had no shelter, food 
or clothing; was naked at the time of our pretended enlistment, and was at the time loyal 
to the Union, and that we gave ourselves up at the first opportunity. Having thrown away 
our arms without firing a shot. Believing that I am entitled to an honorable discharge, 
I appeal to you once more. At the present time I am an inmate of the County Hospital, 
and have not been able to earn my living for nearly a year, suffering from the eiiFects 
of that terrible imprisonment. Anything that you can do in my favor will be thankfully 
accepted. I have the affidavits of my first Captain R. Laughlin, that I was an able-bodied 
young man and a faithful soldier whilst under him. I remain yours with respect, 

"Philander Everett, Late of Co. A, 103d Pa. Infy. Vols. 

"Winnemucca, Humboldt Co., Nevada." 

In "History of Clarion County" by A. J. Davis, published in 1887, a corrected roll of 
Co. A appears, the corrections being made by Captains Laughlin and Alexander. The fol- 
lowing footnote appears below the preface to the roster: 

Bates has James H. Lobaugh, of Co. A, 103 P. V., marked 'Deserted, date un- 
known.' This to the writer seems an unjust record. He received a discharge Jan. 20, 
1863. Having been examined three times to go to his regiment, and each time sent back 
to his quarters, Lobaugh was finally examined for a discharge by a Dr. Thompson, who 
said he ought to be sent home. Lobaugh went, as ordered, to the detail tent on the 20th. 
and received his discharge from Charles Holden, the confidential clerk of Charles A. Mc- 
Call, M. D.. the Surgeon in charge of Mt. Pleasant Hospital. On this discharge he was 
paid in full some ninety-odd dollars, and also received a special rate card for transporta- 
tion home. In 1884 the Adjutant General wrote Lobaughthat the paper purporting to be his 
discharge, which he had presented to that office, was a forgery, perpetrated by an employe 
of Mt. Pleasant Hospital ; that it had been stamped and retained in that office. Forgery "or 
not, it is the settled conviction of the writer that it was received by the soldier in good 
faith, and if a forgery, that he was not a party to it. The case implies bribery, and that 
offense could not have been committed without money. Lobaugh always had been, was 
then, and is now, a poor man. If he be the victim of a forgery, this record refuses to 
hold him as a deserter. It accepts the paper in question to be, as far as James H. Lobaugh 
is concerned, an honorable discharge. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY B. 

Co. B was recruited chiefly in the counties of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Venango 
by George W. Gillespie of Pittsburgh, and Joseph Rodgers and Daniel L. Coe, of Armstrong 
Count)', all of whom were subsequently captains of the Co. Capt. Rodgers recruited in Sugar 
Creek Township, many of his recruits coming from the district schools in that neighborhood. 



78 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

From this section of the county, which lays some 12 or 15 miles northwest of Kittanning, 
some 25 or 30 were enrolled by Capt. Rodgers, among whom were Isaac Newton Swartz- 
lander, George W. Swartzlander, Thomas Hays, J. M. Hays, J. M. Carson, Cyrus K. McKee, 
Charles W. Rumbaugh, Thomas J. Devenney, Samuel Smith Sanderson, Thomas Hart, Isaac 
Barnhart, William Reese, John L. Hile, Simon Hile, James Brenneman, Louis A. Brenne- 
man, Ephraim Hankey, John B. Hankey, Abram Snyder, Charles M. Truby, James Shields, 
George Waterson, Reuben Burford, William Burford, Keziah Hayes, James Sweet, John 
M. Jones, Jacob Reese, Samuel J. Gibson, David Daubenspeck, Conrad Petsinger and David 
Ross. Capt. Coe, who then resided at Monterey, recruited a number from that neighbor- 
hood and elsewhere throughout the county and the bordering counties, among whom were 
Sherman M. Crisswell, George Shakely, William D. Woodruff, Richard Kelley, Newton 
Joseph, Robert M. Crawford, John A. Crawford, James Harvey Crawford, Daniel L. 
Rankin, Benjamin Rankin, Benjamin F. Coe, Harrison W. Coe, Gideon W. Gibson, Samuel 
J. Gibson, William D. Keefer, Andrew Judson, Joshua A. Campbell, Uriah Sloan, Presley 
Sloan, Matthew J. McCay, Joseph McCay, A. J. Hilliard, Peter Hilliard, Lorenzo W. Frantz, 
Abram Adams, David W. Jordan. William Gray Pierce, Alexander C. Jackson, John P. 
Erwin, William Harrison, Harvey B. McClure, Thomas L. McClure, Nicholas Snow, Augus- 
tus Abel, Alfred Campbell, Hamilton Robb, and James Cumberland. The remainder of the 
company was chiefly recruited by Capt. Gillespie. 

When these squads arrived at Camp Orr they were soon merged into one company 
by a mutual agreement in which all the men concurred, with the understanding that the com- 
pany was to be officered as follows : George W. Gillespie, Captain ; Joseph Rodgers, 1st 
Lieut. ; Daniel W. Coe, 2d Lieut. In addition to this it was understood the non-commis- 
sioned officers were to be apportioned from among the three squads. Co. B had a total 
enrollment of 123, eight of whom were killed in battle or died of wounds received in action; 
41 died of disease, 31 of whom either died while prisoners of war or within a short time 
after being released from prison; 22 were discharged by reason of disability on Surgeon's 
certificate; 2 deserted; 3 resigned; 8 were transferred; 3 were discharged on expiration of 
term of service ; 17 were discharged by General Orders of War Department about the time the 
Co. was mustered out of the service, and twenty were mustered out with the Co., June 25, 
1865, receiving their final discharge and pay July 13, 1865, at Harrisburg, Pa. Ten only of 
the original enrollment were mustered out with the Co., viz : Harrison W. Coe (absent on 
furlough at the time), David Daubenspeck, John P. Erwin, G. W. Gibson, Thomas Hart 
(absent on furlough), William Penburthy, D. L. Rankin, A. W. Smith, James Sweet, Geo. 
Watterson. 

Those killed in battle or died of wounds received in action were: Capt. George W. 
Gillespie; Privates, John B. Bish, Barney Deany, Lorenzo Frantz, Samuel Granville, Newton 
Joseph, Robert McCleary, Henry C. Shakely. All the foregoing were killed at the battle 
of Fair Oaks, Va., except Samuel Granville, who was killed at the battle of Plymouth, N. C, 
April 20, 1864. Newton Joseph was killed on the picket line at Fair Oaks about daybreak 
May 29. He was the first man killed in action in the Regiment, and was evidently killed at 
close range, as his forehead was crushed in as if by a blow from a musket. The enemy 
attacked the picket line where Co. B was on duty at daybreak, under cover of a heavy 
fog. Maj. John E. Kelley (96th N. Y.), who was in command of the pickets, wa5 killed at 
the first onslaught of the enemy. Capt. Gillespie assumed command of the pickets as soon 
as he learned that Maj. Kelley had fallen. At first the pickets were driven back but Capt. 
GiHespie rallied them and forced the enemy back, and the pickets maintained their position 
without being reinforced. Gen. Casey, in a dispatch to the commanding general of the 
corps, complimented the pickets as behaving nobly, mentioning Capt. Gillespie by name as 
behaving well. Two days later Capt. Gillespie was killed in the battle of Fair Oaks. 

When Maj. Gazzam rushed the Regiment to the support of the picket line after the 
attack was made, he placed Co.'s B and G south of the Williamsburg road and the re- 
mainder of the Regiment north of the road. The advance of the Confederates north of the 
road preceded by twenty minutes the attacking column south of the road. The Confederate 
reports bear testimony that Co.'s B and G were not idle, although not attacked in front. 



.^mi^" 




COMPANY B-S FLAG— CARRIED THROUGH A N DE RSO N V I LL E PRISON. 




PRIVATE CONRAD PETZINGER. 

Who brought the Flag from Andersonville 

Prison. 



MPS. THOMAS MAYS. 
Who helped make the Flag. 



COMPANY C 79 

■Gen. Garland, who led the advance north of the road, says in his report that Maj. Wilson, 
who was with the skirmishers (2d Miss. Regiment), near the Williamsburg road, reported 
that they were subjected to a fire from the south of the road. When the Regiment north 
■of the road was driven back Capt. Gillespie succeeded in keeping most of the men south 
■of the road together, and formed them, with others under command of Captains Laiighlin 
and Mackey, to the right of Spratt's battery, where they remained until the advance line 
was driven back. He, with the other two officers, rallied the men at the intrenchments, 
where they remained until the entire force was driven back. Capt. Gillespie was finally 
killed on the line where the last rally of Wessells' brigade was made in advance of Couch's 
division. Capt. Gillespie was one of the most popular officers of the Regiment, and yet 
after the war, there were none of his company who knew anything of his history, further 
than that he was from Pittsburgh, Pa., where he had been admitted to the bar. His father, 
William Gillespie, made application to recover all arrears of pay, etc., due Capt. Gillespie 
on Oct. 20, 1862. The father was then a resident of Peebles Township, Allegheny County, 
Pa., and 82 years old. He stated in his affidavit that Capt. Gillespie was unmarried, had no 
children, and that his last residence had been Pittsburgh, Penna. Capt. Gillespie had served 
as a non-commissioned officer in the "Three Months" service C12th Regiment) and was the 
most proficient officer in military tactics in the embryonic days of the Regiment at Camp Orr, 
and acted as instructor to the Regiment while in the rendezvous camp. 

The teacher of the Blaney School of Sugar Creek Township, Armstrong County, the 
3'ear prior to the outbreak of the war was J. M. Carson of Sarversville, Butler County, Pa. 
He enlisted in Co. B, and all the boys who had attended his school, who were old enough 
to be accepted, followed his action, among whom were Thomas Hays and his brother J. M. 
Hays, and Charles Rumbaugh. While the Co. was in Camp Orr the girls who were attend- 
ing the Blaney School made a flag for the Co., which has a unique history. The girls were 
three days in making the flag, doing all the sewing by hand. When it was completed, the 
entire school, accompanied by nearly all the residents for miles around, journeyed to Camp 
Orr in wagons and buggies to present it to the Co. The vehicles were filled with edibles 
and a sumptuous feast was prepared for the boys by the women accompanying the school. 
The flag was duly presented, and it was entrusted to the care of the former teacher, James 
M. Carson. Although the latter was a young man of rugged physique, he was not able to 
withstand the privations of the Peninsula campaign, and fell a victim to typhoid fever, his 
death taking place at White House Landing, Va., June 13, 1862, two weeks after the battle 
of Fair Oaks. On the death of Carson the flag was turned over to Conrad Petsinger for 
safe keeping. When the latter realized that the Regiment would be forced to capitulate 
•at Plymouth, N. C, he concealed the flag by wrapping it around his body underneath his 
clothing. When he arrived within the Andersonville stockade he buried it underneath his 
habitation until he left, and as he was moved from place to place, he carried it with him 
until he was paroled, Dec. 10, 1864, and then brought it home, retaining it in his possession. 
He was honorably discharged from the service June 12, 1865, by General Order from the 
War Department. Before his death he bequeathed the flag to his son, H. W. Petsinger of 
Pittsburgh, who intends to have it preserved to posterity in Allegheny County Memorial 
Hall. Most of the school girls who assisted in making the flag are yet living, among whom 
are Mrs. Thomas Hays, then Miss Kizzie J. Foster; Mrs. Thomas Patton, then Miss Eliza 
A. Foster; Mrs. Sarah Lewis of Butler County, Pa., then Miss Sarah A. Blaney; Mrs. 
William Storey of Fairview, Butler County, Pa., then Miss Eliza A. Hays ; Mrs. John Skin- 
ner, then Miss Sarah A. Templeton, and Miss Eliza McGarvey, deceased. A reproduction of 
the flag, and a portrait of Mrs. Hays, who assisted in making the flag, and of Conrad 
Petsinger, who carried it through Andersonville, appear in this volume. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY C. 

Co. C was formed by merging the nuclei of three companies, recruited by Simon P. 
Townsend, Albert Fahnestock and John M. Cochran, Townsend and Cochran recruiting 
their men in Armstrong County, the central recruiting points being Cochran's Mills and 
Spring Church. They were assisted by Thomas A. Cochran and Baptist H. Scott. Fahne- 



80 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

stock's recruits came chiefly from Pittsburgh, a group of them being school boys from the 
neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, then a suburb of the city. Fahnestock's Co. was known as 
the "Howe Cadets," the Armstrong County company as "McGellan's Guards." Fahnestock's 
and Cochran's recruits entered Camp Orr early in September, Townsend following shortly 
afterward. The merging of the three squads practically assured the maximum quota in a 
short time, although about a score more was needed. The organization of the Co. having 
been prearranged before the merging of the three groups, it was effected by the selection 
of the following officers: Simon P. Townsend, Capt. ; Albert Fahnestock, 1st Lieut.; John 
M. Cochran, 2d Lieut. ; Thomas A. Cochran, 1st Sergt. ; David Scarem, James H. Chambers, 
William T. Coleman, W. Nelson Barr, Sergts. ; William Leech, Robert M. Dunn, James 
Madison Wilson, William P. Courter, Andrew M. Wilson, John Low, Salem Crum, Andrew 
J. Scott, Corporals. 

Co. C had a total enrollment of 128. Of these 4 were killed in battle; 3 were dis- 
charged by reason of wounds received in action ; 11 died of disease while in the service ; 8 
were transferred ; 26 were discharged on Surgeon's certificate ; 10 were either discharged or 
deserted from the rendezvous camp; 3 are recorded as deserting after leavmg the State; 2 
resigned; 1 was discharged by court martial; 19 were discharged at the expiration of the 
three years' term ; 5 were absent when the company was mustered out and 36 were mus- 
tered out with the company, at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, and received their final dis- 
charges at Harrisburgh, Pa., July 13, 1865. Those killed in battle were : Thomas A. Mere- 
dith, Joseph Austin, Jacob Stiffey, and Corp. Andrew M. Wilson; the first, at the battle of 
Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862; the others at the battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, 1862. 
Those discharged by reasons of wounds received in action were: Alexander Fleming, 
Edward Rogers, and James Sutch ; the latter was wounded and captured at the battle of 
Fair Oaks, subsequently exchanged, and discharged Oct. 1, 1862 ; Rogers was wounded on 
an expedition to the Blackwater, near Franklin, Va., Oct. 3, 1862, by a shell, which ricochet- 
ted in front of the company, striking him on a leg, which had to be amputated ; he was dis- 
charged March 12, 1863; Fleming was wounded at the battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, 

1862, and was discharged April 9, 1863. Two were transferred to the Veteran Reserve 
Corps, by reason of wounds received in action, viz : Samuel Elgin and William H. Shaffer ; 
the latter was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862, and was transferred to 
Co. A, 3d Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, July 1, 1863, and served in it until Dec. 6, 1864, 
when he was honorably discharged; Elgin was wounded at battle of Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862, 
and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, July 27, 1863; the other six transferred 
were Sergt. James H. Chambers, promoted to Sergt. Maj. of the Regiment: Charles C. 
Lang, promoted to Hosp. Stew, of the Regiment; David A. Kennedy, transferred to Signal 
Corps, November 1, 1862, and Sergt. David Scarem, Corp. William Leech and Winfield S. 
Birch to the Veteran Reserve Corps on account of physical disability; Leech on Sept. 1, 

1863, and Scarem and Birch on Sept. 24, 1863. The 11 who died from disease were: William 
Altman, June 30, 1862, between White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill, during the "Seven 
Days' Battles" ; Tomer Anthony, during the "Seven Days' Battles," near White Oak Swamp, 
Va. ; Corp. William P. Courter. at Rose Hill Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., May 26. 1862, as a 
result of an accidental gun shot wound while at Camp Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, Va. ; 
Luther Cribbs, July 15, 1862, on board hospital ship ; Solomon A. Dentzell, June 20, 1862. at 
White Oak Swamp, Va. ; William J. Murdock, June 27, 1862, near White Oak Swamp, Va. ; 
John R. Smith, March 26, 1862, at Camp Lloyd. Meridian Hill, Washington, D. C. ; John 
Yount, May 29, 1862, near Savage Station, Va ; William W. Cochran, Jan. 6, 1864, at 
Roanoke Island, N. C. ; Henry Pifer, August 14, 1864, at Roanoke Island, N. C. ; J. Hines, 
July 9, 1865, at St. James, General Hospital, Baltimore, Md. The only official connection 
Hines has with the company is through his "list of effects," on which he is credited with 
belonging to Co. C, 103d Penna. Regiment. It is barely possible that he may have been re- 
cruited for the company and his descriptive list lost in transit, but it is more probable that 
he belonged to some other regiment ; William W. Cochran, enlisted June 10, 1863, and was 
therefore only with the company a few months before his death. He was a younger brother 
of Capt. John M. Cochran and George W. Cochran, both of whom had left the company 



COMPANY C 81 

before his death; his remains were buried on Roanoke Island, but subsequently were moved 
to the National Cemetery, New Bern, N. C, and were interred in plot 7, grave number 1,205 ; 
Henry Pifer was also a recruit, and was with the company only a few months before his 
death ; he was a younger brother of George W. Pifer, one of the original members of the 
company ; he was buried at Roanoke Island, but, subsequently, his remains were transferred 
to the National Cemeterj', at New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,119. Ten left the company 
while yet in Camp Orr ; they were : George Couch, John Couch, Joseph McGuire, Hiram 
Price, who left camp the day before Christmas, 1861, and never returned ; they are marked 
as deserters : John Davis and William R. Stewart were discharged by the civil authorities, 
by Habeas Corpus writ, Feb. 21, 1861 ; William G. Risher was discharged on Surgeon's 
certificate. Jan. 21. 1862; Jacob Stockdill was discharged by order of Col. Lehmann, evi- 
dently at the request of his parents; Adam Davis left camp during Feb., 1862, and never 
returned, and is therefore marked as a deserter; David Altman was discharged on Surgeon's 
certificate, Feb. 17, 18G2. Those recorded as deserting after the Regiment left the State 
were: Jacob Beighley, June 30, 1862; Jacob Gilby, Apr. 16, 1862, at Warwick Court House, 
Va. ; Isaac Stiffey is recorded as, "Deserted Sept. 16, 1861.'' On the company's muster roll 
on which Private Stiffey was dropped (January and February, 1863), is the following nota- 
tion, given as a reason for marking him a deserter: "Absent sick since Sept. 16, 1861; hear 
through reliable authority that he joined an artillery company." On the preceding muster 
roll (November and December, 1862) he is accounted for as follows: "Sick at Fort Monroe 
since Sept. 18, 1862." When the Regiment received orders to break camp in September, 1862 
then between Fortress Monroe and Hajnpton Roads, Stif?ey was lying seriously ill in camp. 
He was removed from his tent to a hospital near by, carried there by his brother, Jacob 
Stiffey, and Private Robert Bash. When he became convalescent he was sent to Governor's 
Island, N. Y. As he recuperated he was transferred to Fort Hamilton Hospital wli?re he 
did light duty until he recovered. He was there transferred to Co. E. 5th Regiment of Ar- 
tillery, U. S. army, and served until a year and half after the war ended. The writer has 
before him two discharges of Comrade Stiffey's, giving hira a record of which any soldier 
would be glad to possess. The first discharge reads, in part, as follows: "Know ye, that 
Isaac Stiffey, a Private of Captain Truman Seymour's Company (E) of the Fifth Regiment 
of Artillery, who was enlisted the Twenty-first day of Januan,'-, one thousand eight hundred 
and Sixty-two, to serve unexpired period of three years, is hereby discharged from the Army 
of the United States in consequence of Re-enlisting, per G. O. No. 25, W. D. A. G. O. 
Wash., Jan. 18, 1864." Under the space for character, the record is marked, "Good." The 
second discharge is dated Jan. 29, 1867, and "Excellent" is the character given him. His 
last discharge is endorsed by Capt. Seymour as follows : 

"Private Isaac Stiffey has served with the Company in the following engagements, 
viz. : Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg, Petersburg. April 2d! 
1865, Sailor's Creek, Surrender Lee's Army." 

The date of enlistment given in the first discharge is obviously an error and should 
have been 1863, instead of 1862. Jacob Stifltey, instantly killed on the firing line Dec. 14, 
1862, was a younger brother of Isaac Stiffey. While the latter was with Co. C he did his 
duty faithfully and well. Both he and his brother were classed with the "boys" of the Co. 

In confirmation of the above the writer has before him the following communication 
from the War Department, dated March 21, 1910, over the signature of The Adjutant Gen- 
eral : "The charge of desertion on the record of Isaac Stiffey as a member of Company C, 
103d Pennsylvania Infantry, is erroneous. He was discharged the service as of that organ- 
ization January 20, 1863, by reason of enlistment on the following day in Batter>' E, 5th 
United States Artillery." 

Those discharged on Surgeon's certificate after the company left Camp Orr were: 
Sergt. W. N. Barr. March 11. 1863; Corp. Salem Crum, May 13, 1862; Corp. Andrew J. 
Scott, June 20, 1863; Corp. Isaac Warner, June 20, 1863; Henry M. Ammendt, April 26, 
1863; James Beatty, March 28, 1863; James Canfield, Jan. 13, 1863; John Clark. April 1,' 
1863; George W. Cochran, Dec. 4, 1863; Jackson Davis, June 20. 1863; David H. Dickason, 
Sept. 1. 1862; William Dougherty. March 28, 1863; Jeremiah George, Nov. 2, 1862; John 



82 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Goudy, Sept. 16, 1863 ; Thomas Hammer, Feb. 5, 1863 ; William Harkleroad, Dec. 26, 1862 ; 
William Hays, March 9, 1864 ; Joseph B. Travice, March 26, 1863 ; Peter W. Hetrick, March 
3, 1863; Jacob Linsinbigler, March 23, 1863; Joseph Mclntire, Aug. 24, 1862; George Mos- 
baughel, Feb. 17, 1863 ; John Richards, March 28, 1863 ; Israel Sadler, June 19, 1862 ; Sharp 
W. Scott, Aug. 29, 1862; Samuel Thompson, Jan. 18, 1865. 

The following were honorably discharged, Sept. 16, 1864, by reason of the expiration 
of the three years' term of enlistment : Lieut. Baptist H. Scott, Sergt. William T. Coleman, 
Sergt. Robt. M. Dunn, Sergt. John Low, Corp. Thomas J. McKee, Drummer John C. Austin, 
Privates Philip Anthony, Adam Bargerstock, Thomas Connell, Dennis Connor, James 
Elgin, John Fleming, John L. Jones, James McCroskey, George W. McKee, Samuel Murphy, 
John F. Shoup, Matthew L. Teaff, and John Graden ; disch. Feb. 13, 1865. The following 
were absent sick when the company was mustered out : James E. Laff erty, David Kingmore, 
Woodward Carter, David Hetrick, Philip Smith; Hetrick and Smith belonged to the orig- 
inal enrollment ; Kingmore and Carter were recruits, mustered into the service August 13, 
1864, and accredited to the company but never joined it; Lafferty joined the company July 
21, 1864, but no descriptive list was ever received. Taken sick, he was sent to the hospital 
and last report from him he was in Jarvis Hospital, Baltimore, Md. Capt. Simon P. 
Townsend, resigned July 7, 1862 ; Capt. Albert Fahnestock, who was promoted captain to 
date from July 7, 1862, resigned Jan. 14, 1863; Capt. John M. Cochran, who was promoted 
to 1st lieutenant July 7, 1862, and to captain January 14, 1863, was dismissed by court mar- 
tial June 16, 1863. As there is a stigma attached to a dismissal from the service, the writer 
thinks it is due to Capt. John M. Cochran that the facts leading up to the dismissal should 
appear in the Regimental History. The Regiment had no braver officer than he, and he 
was, perhaps, as strict a disciplinarian as was in the Regiment. He detested shams of any 
kind, and he had a blunt way of speaking his mind. He had no charity for any one who 
shirked duty. A copy of the muster roll made out by him is before the writer. On it eight 
men with the Co. are dropped as deserters. The reasons assigned for marking them de- 
serters were as follows : "Were taken sick and sent north ; have had no official notice of 
their whereabouts; have heard through others that they were at home and well." With 
one exception these men returned to the Co., but Capt. Cochran believed they were trying 
to evade duty. In this same group, marked deserters, was one who had been severely 
wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, and never returned to the Co. The 
reason noted on the muster roll for dropping him is, "Slightly wounded at the battle of 
Fair Oaks ; have never heard from Surgeons." Once in action one of the company was 
slightly but painfully wounded and hurriedly left the ranks, and was sent to a general hos- 
pital for a short time. On his return he was soundly berated by Capt. Cochran because he 
had left ranks. These instances are cited merely to show that an officer so severe in dis- 
clipine would have enemies in his ranks, and he had quite a number, but they were, as a 
general rule, men who shirked duty, more or less. Capt. Cochran was the most pugnacious 
officer in the Regiment, and he was second to none in courage. As the Regiment was sup- 
porting a battery in close range of the enemy, the commanding officer of the regiment en- 
gaged with the enemy in the immediate front got "rattled," and in a loud voice gave the 
command to retreat, repeating the command several times. This brought cheers from the 
enemy. Capt. Cochran immediately called the men of the Co. to respond in cheers, which 
was done quite heartily. 

Once in advancing on the enemy under a severe fire part of the Regiment passed 
over some men of another regiment who were "hugging" the ground to avoid the fire. 
Evidently some of the Regiment had boasted about this and it had come to the knowledge 
of the others. Shortly after this event the Regiment in changing quarters marched by the 
camp of the regiment referred to, and a group of its officers was by the road side viewing 
the passersby, and when they spied the colors of the Regiment, one of them exclaimed, in 
a sneering, ironical manner, "This is the regiment that marched over us." Capt. Cochran, 
hearing this, walked up to the group and replied by saying, "By ! we are the iden- 
tical boys who did walk over you." No other officer in the Regiment would have had the 
audacity and temerity to have done this. At the battle of Fair Oaks, although sick and 




Capt. John M. Cochran. Private George W. Cochran. Private Wm. W. Cochran. 

THREE BROTHERS BELONGING TO COMPANY C. 





Private Lemuel H. Slagle. 
(Co. F.) 



John F. Rupert. 
(Corporal Co. A.) 



COMPANY C 83 

excused from dut>', he rallied a number of men who were absent when the Regiment went 
to the support of the pickets, and formed them to the left of Casey's Redoubt. He re- 
mained there until he was so severely wounded that he had to be assisted from the field. 
He would not have been court-martialed had it not been for his pugnacity and stubborn- 
ness. His offense was intended only as a joke on a couple of brother officers, and with 
no intention of harming them. He and another officer of the Regiment called on some 
women who lived a short distance beyond the picket line and introduced themselves ai 
Col. Maxwell and Capt. Mackey, two of the most staid and upright characters of the Regi- 
ment. One of Capt. Cochran's most implacable foes was on picket duty and got the story 
from the women shortly after the officers left, and the next day he reported it to Col. 
Maxwell, and when confronted with the charges the officers admitted the offense. Charges 
were preferred against the offending officers and the ultimatum given them to apologize 
and resign. Capt. Cochran's companion accepted the ultimatum and was honorably dis- 
charged, but the captain turned a deaf ear to the pleadings of his friends, refused to apolo- 
gize, and was court-martialed. The Regiment had no better or braver officer than Capt. 
John M. Cochran. 

Capt. Simon P. Townsend was one of the most substantial and influential farmers 
of Western Pennsylvania, and for that time, held a high reputation as a militarj' man, 
serving in the State militia as brigade inspector of Armstrong County for two years prior 
to and at the beginning of the war. His paternal ancestor had participated in the Revo- 
lutionary War, and he had imbibed patriotic ideas, no doubt, through his paternal lineage. 
Capt. Townsend was born in 1823, at Salina, Armstrong County, Pa. His parents, Robert 
Townsend and Elizabeth Hine Townsend, moved to Westmoreland County shortly after 
his birth, residing there only a few years, when they settled on a farm at Olivet, Arm- 
strong County, about the year 1830. It was here he was reared and educated, in the dis- 
trict and subscriptions schools, living the ordinary life of the farmer's boy, early learning 
all the duties pertaining to farm life. In 1852 he joined fortune with five others, viz : John 
J. Scott, John Baxter, Alexander Wilson, and Samuel George. These six entered into a 
mutual agreement, which was duly signed by each one, that they would unite their for- 
tunes in making a quest for gold in California. In the compact entered into, each one 
agreed to help the others by all legitimate means to acquire a fortune, pledging himself 
to stand by the others to the extent of his ability. The trip was made by the Isthmus of 
Panama, during which they had a rough experience, at times knocked about by heavy 
storms, and again suffering from lack of wind, in which their vessel was completely be- 
calmed, prolonging the trip until they ran short of provisions, and were threatened with 
starvation. He returned to Olivet two or three years before the war. Capt. Townsend 
was an exceptionally pious man ; was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and while in 
the rendezvous camp, and until the Regiment went to the front, conducted worship in the 
company's quarters every night. 

At the time of the battle of Fair Oaks Capt. Townsend was suffering with the illness 
then so common among both officers and men, and did not accompany the men to the 
picket line on the evening before the battle. However, he relieved Lieut. Fahnestock early 
the next morning, and had the honor of commanding the advance troops of the Army of 
the Potomac, that opened the first great battle between that army and the Army of North- 
em Virginia. Capt. Townsend arrived at the picket line before eight o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the first day's battle at Seven Pines. Half of his company was deployed as pickets 
along the edge of a woods, facing a field some four or five hundred yards wide, the other 
half being held as a reserve, a hundred yards to the rear. Shortly after the arrival of the 
Captain, the enemy was seen to arrive on the opposite side of the field and halt The open- 
ing in front of the pickets was covered by a dense thicket, with clusters of small trees 
here and there, obstructing the view, except at points. Wherever it was possible to get a 
view of the ground on the opposite side, the enemy could be seen in large groups. Capt 
Townsend had a field glass which was in constant use all morning. The Captain, as soon 
as he saw the enemy was massed in force, sent word to Gen. Casey by a vidette that an 
attack was impending. He kept passing along the picket line cautioning the men to be on 



84 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the alert, but not to tire until the enemy advanced in force. The best view of the enemy 
could be had from the first picket post north of the Williamsburg road, and there Capt. 
Townsend made his headquarters. He was at this post when the enemy's guns were fired, as 
a signal to advance, and the missiles from these guns passed through the tree tops, 
near where he was standing. Gen. Casey says in his report of the battle that he received 
word twice by videttes that the enemy was preparing for an attack. This word was sent 
by Capt. Townsend. As soon as the smoke cleared away from the signal guns the enemy 
was seen advancing, and the pickets immediately opened fire. The fire at first was en- 
tirely from the pickets of Co. C, with the exception of a few posts to their right and one 
to their left. The pickets kept up a rapid fire and maintained their position along the edge 
of the woods until after the Regiment had arrived and formed in rear near the point at 
which the reserve part of the company was quartered. The fire of the picket had checked 
the enemy's skirmishers and forced the regiments of the attacking brigade, which were 
moving by the right flank at deploying distances, into line of battle. It was the steady and 
continuous fire of the pickets that drew the heavy fire, which struck the Regiment while 
it was being aligned in the woods. The fire of the pickets was so rapid and continuous 
that their gun barrels became uncomfortably hot, and the position at the edge of the woods 
was maintained, so far as Capt. Townsend's company extended, until the enemy's line of 
battle was within a few yards of the position, a portion of the pickets not retiring until 
they had received the heavy fire that struck the Regiment while its alignment was being 
made. In a dispatch to Secretary Stanton Gen. McClellan said : "'On Saturday Casey's 
pickets rushed in without attempting a stand." As the writer views it now, Capt. Town- 
send's mistake was, that he did not order the pickets to fall back before the enemy had 
approached so closely. As it was the pickets were forced to get back rapidly, and before 
some of them succeeded in getting out of the woods their own batteries were shelling them. 
Although the privations of the trip up the Peninsula had impaired Capt. Townsend's 
rugged constitution, the excitement of the battle of Seven Pines seemed to have given him 
new vitality, and he remained in command of the company, but as the excitement was al- 
layed his physique became enervated and he resigned immediately after the Peninsula cam- 
paign had come to an end, July 7, 1862. 

Capt. Albert Fahnestock succeeded Capt. Townsend, but owing to impaired health he 
resigned January 14, 1863, much to the regret of the "boys" of the company. The majority 
of Fahnestock's recruits were young men and boys and if he had an opportunity to favor 
them in any way he always did it graciously. However, not through partiality, for he was 
considerate of all, and it is doubtful if, when he left the company, there was one who had 
any grudge or ill feeling towards him. 

The following were mustered out with the company at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 
1865, and received their final discharge July 13, 1865, at Harrisburg, Pa. : Capt. Thomas 
A. Cochran, 1st Lieut. James M. Wilson, 1st Sergt. Wilson S. Cochran, Sergt. Samuel M. 
Evans, Sergt. John A, Gwinn, Sergt. William McElfresh, Sergt. William J. Stoup, Corp. 
Francis M. Fleming, Corp. Luther S. Dickey, Corp. George Forward, Corp. Samuel A. 
Kier, Corp. George W. Pifer, Corp. Robert M. Watson, Fifer Lewis Barlett, Drummer 
Dallas B. Taylor; Privates Robert Bash, Thomas M. C. Beer, David M. Dickey, Samuel 
Findley, 1st; Samuel Findley, 2d; Benjamin Franklin, John J. Gallagher, Martin Harkle- 
road, George D. Herick, Hezekiah Hilty, Emanuel Lore, William McKillip, John Noble, 
Crowder Pacien, George W. Pontious, Jeremiah Schreckengost, Reese Shay, John Shultz, 
John C. Speer, Patrick Welsh. Jesse B. Wilson. 

Capt. Thomas A. Cochran's military career has already been told in the Regimental 
narrative, and in the sketch of the company. From the first he was more intimately ac- 
quainted with the members of the company than anyone else, on account of his official posi- 
tion as orderly or first sergeant. But being with the company in official position from the 
time it was first organized, until it was disbanded at Harrisburg, July 13, 1865, holding 
the positions of first sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and finally captain, brought 
him closer to the men than any other of the officers. Even while he commanded the Regi- 
ment, he held the dual relation also, as commander of the company. It is no reflection on 



COMPANY D 85 

his predecessors who commanded the company, to say that the last captain of Co. C was the 
most beloved by the men who served with the company from the beginning to the end. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY D. 

Co. D was formed by merging the nuclei of two companies, one recruited by Joseph 
K. Hamilton in the neighborhood of Putneyville, Oakland and Colwell's Furnace, in the 
northern part of Armstrong County; the other by Madison M. Meredith, recruited in the 
vicinity of Mahoning and Stewartson Furnace; each having about 40 men enrolled. When 
the merging was effected it was with the expectation that the Co. would join the 78th Regi- 
ment, and by mutual agreement it was understood that Hamilton was to be Captain and 
Meredith 1st Lieutenant. The Co. arrived at Camp Orr on Sept. 25, but a large percentage 
of the men enrolled failed to appear, less than 50 men accompanying the officers into camp. 
This interfered with the acceptance of the Co. in the T8th, much to the disappointment of 
the ofScers and men, as they were anxious to get to the front, and it was expected that 
the TSth would leave within a few days. After the arrival of the Co. in the rendezvous 
camp a spirited contest took place between the two squads for the 2d Lieutenancy, one 
favoring Fletcher Smullin, the other G. W. Stoke. The ballot resuhing in a tie, the captain 
refraining from voting when the ballot was taken, decided the result by casting his vote 
for Smullin, who became 2d lieutenant. The commissioned officers selected the non-com- 
missioned officers as follows: 1st Sergt., James O'Donnell ; 2d Sergt., A. Luther Fluke; 
3d Sergt., Thomas Henry Gray; 4th Sergt., Levi Nolf ; oth Sergt., Samuel S. Hamilton; 
Corporals, John H. Brown, John Humphries, John S. Moorehead, Daniel Stoke, George 
T. Carrier, Samuel E. Hamilton, Adam Nolf, Anthony Spangler. The men were given 
furloughs home for the purpose of recruiting, and as there was considerable rivalry be- 
tween the two squads as to which could secure the greatest number the maximum quota of 
101 was soon secured. After the 78th Regiment left, and the men having neither uniforms 
nor muskets, with nothing to do but drill in squads or by company, which consisted in fac- 
ing and marching, began to express discontent, and the officers, to encourage them, made 
speeches assuring them they would soon get to the seat of war, making profuse promises 
of how they would stand by the men until the last. .One of the officers made use of a 
phrase the men never forgot, inasmuch as two of them had severed their relations with the 
company within a few months thereafter. He said, "Boys, if you will stay, we will stick 
to you as long as there is a button on our coats." However, at least one of them had good 
reasons for leaving. Capt. Hamilton resigned April 9, 1862, he having typhoid fever in a 
most malignant form, hovering between life and death for days after he reached his home. 
He had two sons, twins, in the Co., one of whom, Sergt. Samuel S. Hamilton, died June 
1, 18G2, at Washington, D. C, while the other lay at death's door for several months, his 
illness occurring at the same time the other two were at the point of death. He was dis- 
charged for disability, and when he reached home he was merely a shadow of what he 
had been when entering the service. Meredith was promoted to Capt. and Smullin to 1st 
Lieut., to date April 10, 1862, and G. W. Stoke was appointed 2d Lieut, by Col. Lehmann at 
the same time. Meredith resigned July 15, 1862, and as Lieut. Smullin was absent in Phil- 
adelphia, Pa., with typhoid pneumonia, by reason of which he did not return to the Co. 
until the first week of the following November, the command of the Co., in the meantime, 
fell on Stoke, who had been appointed Capt. by Col. Lehmann. However, shortly after 
Smullin's return to the Co. he received his commission as Capt., dated July 15, 1862. While 
Stoke was acting as Capt., A. L. Fluke was appointed 2d Lieut, his commission dating April 
10, 1862. On the return of Smullin to the Co., Stoke returned to the ranks as a private, 
although he had been acting as Capt. for several months, satisfactorily to all the men. 
Subsequently he was commissioned 2d Lieut., and transferred to Co. B. Of original com- 
missioned officers Capt. Smullin was with the Co. when it was captured at Plymouth, and 
was a prisoner of war for over 11 months, receiving his parole March 26, 1865. In re- 
ferring to the "button promise," Smullin says: "I never made any button promise, but 
while I was in Confederate prison my coat became so badly worn that it would not hold a 



86 • 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

button, and had it not been for Col. Maxwell's generosity when I was paroled I would 
have been coatless." 

Four days after Capt. Smullin was paroled he was honorably discharged by Special 
Order of the War Department, No. 152, paragraph 69, by reason of reduced command. 

Of the original enrollment six were transferred, viz: W. B. Kroesen, George Smith, 
William Todd, to Co. K; James Ritchey, to Co. B; William Dailey, to 8th N. Y. Batt'y; 
George W. Stoke to Co. B. One deserted, viz : William Duncan. Two resigned, viz : 
Capts. Hamilton and Meredith. Thirty-three died while prisoners of war, or immediately 
after being paroled, viz: Benj. J. Ailer, James A. Beeham, Robert Cathcart, William H. 
Craig, Thomas H. Gray, Henry Gumbert, Peter Haller, Jeremiah Henry, Thomas J. Hooks, 
John Martin, Isaac S. Moorhead, William Oliver, James T. Parsons, Samuel Reese, Michael 
Pugh, Adam Shreckengost, James Smeltzer; all the foregoing named are known to have 
died at Andersonville ; Aaron F. Bowser, James F. Brown and William 0. Pontious died at 
Charleston, S. C. ; David Myers and Jacob Myers died on board transport conve>-ing them 
to Annapolis, Md., after being paroled; William H. Kjiess and Levi Nolf died at Annapolis, 
Md., shortly after being paroled ; Eli Simmers died at Wilmington, as he was about to be 
paroled ; William N. Blake, Samuel Clark, Job Elder, Lewis Griflfin, Levi Henry, Samuel 
E. Hamilton, Henry Spong, and John J. Stoke are reported by comrades as dying in prison 
but place not given ; most probably at Florence, or en route from one point to another. 
Six were killed in battle or died of wounds received in action, viz : Emanuel Bucher, James 
O'Donnell, Jacobs Stults ; in battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862, Sergt. x\nthony 
Spangler, and William H. Wheeler, at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, 1862; Corp. G€0. 
T. Carrier, at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864. Sergt. Spangler was color bearer at the 
time he was killed, and received two fatal bullets, almost simultaneously. Twenty-two were 
discharged on Surgeon's certificate; 7 were transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, viz: 
Joshua Baughman, Thomas Shall, Thompson Simpson, George K. Slagle, George Smith, 
William Todd and Isaac Trolinger. In addition to the 6 killed in action and the 33 died 
who were prisoners of war, 13 died of disease, making the total mortality of the Co. 52. 
Those who died of disease were Chambers Armstrong, at Camp Orr ; James Brooks, at 
Yorktown, Va. ; William Brown, at Yorktown, Va. ; James H. Crow, at Harrison's Land- 
ing, Va. ; William Galentine, Jr., at Philadelphia. Pa. ; Samuel S. Hamilton, Washington, 
D. C. ; Robert Hays, White Oak Swamp, Va. ; Barnhart Metzler, at Plymouth, N. C. ; 
James Porter, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Leonard Stein, Yorktown, Va. ; Z. C. Smullin, Harrison's 
Landing, Va. ; William Shall, Orrsville, Pa.; Andrew Wolfe, New Bern, N. C. 

Capt. Madison Monroe Meredith was a brother of Hon. Jonathan Meredith, who has 
been Speaker of the Penna. House of Representatives. He was a native of Qarion County, 
and had attended school in Kittanning. He quit school when 16 years old to accompany a 
party of gold prospectors to California, but returned to Pennsylvania, and was engaged in 
mercantile business at Brookville, Pa., at the outbreak of the war. The campaign on the 
Peninsula undermined his constitution, and he was forced to resign, although he had been 
promoted to the captaincy of the Co. but three months before. He returned to Brookville 
after leaving the army, and became a practicing attorney there. In 1882 he was appointed 
Corporation Qerk in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. He was a mem- 
ber of the Dauphin Co. Bar and author of "Meredith's Corporation Laws of Pennsylvania." 
In 1888 he entered the legal department of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. After an illness 
covering several months Capt. Meredith died at the Grand View Sanitarium, Wemersville, 
Pa., April 19, 1904, in his 72d year. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY E. 

Co. E was composed entirely of Butler County boys and men, two townships alone. 
Clay and Cherry, contributing 25 of the original enrollment. A number of these had done 
service in the "Old 13th," during the early months of the war. Among these were Robert 
J. Thompson, W. S. Dickson, Wallace Frick, Chas. H. McQung, Eli G. Cratty, C. M. Otto, 
Peter Wisenstine. The recruits from Sunbury and the surrounding neighborhood were 
conveyed from West Sunbury to Butler in farm wagons, by courtesy of the farmers of 



COMPANY E 87 

the neighborhood. Groups of recruits from other parts of the county concentrated at Butler 
and all were transported to Camp Orr in wagons, reaching the rendezvous camp the latter 
part of November, 1861. After the arrival at Camp Orr the organization of the Co. was 
effected by the election of officers, which resulted as follows: Capt., Samuel Martin; 1st 
Lieut., C. M. Otto; 2d Lieut.. E. G. Cratty ; 1st Sergt., R. R. Bryson; Sergts., C. H. Mc- 
A. Wagner, Samuel Roth, Jefferson Burtner, H. C. Croup, W. N. Stevenson, J. H. Scott, 
J. M. Byers; musicians, A. B. Hughes, drummer, John Myers, fif er ; the latter having been 
transferred from Co. A. 

The total enrollment of the company was 110, the maximum quota of 101 having been 
enrolled while at Camp Orr. Of the original enrollment the following were recruited from 
Cherry Township: James R. Allison, N. K. Allison, R P. Black, J. B. Campbell, Dickson 
Christy, S. B. McCandless, P. O. Morrow, Braden Porter, W. R Stevenson, Samuel 
Thompson, Lewis Woolford. Later Cherry Township furnished three recruits to Co. E, 
viz : J. M. Black, Adam Grossman and Jonathan Hockenberr>', making a total of 14 from 
that township. Clay Township furnished 14 also, as follows : William Beighly, W, S. 
Dickson, Gabriel Duffy, Thomas Eshenbaugh, Wallace Frick, Walter Gold, J. L. McCand- 
less, J. N. McCarrier, W. S. Mechling, William Miller, Solomon Moses, J. M. Webb, 
Richard Wick. Of the total enrollment of 110, fifty-one died while in the service; 30 of 
whom died while prisoners of war or immediately after being released ; three were killed 
in battle, and 18 died of disease contracted while in camp or on the march, 16 of whom died 
during the first year of service, in 1862. Patrick Norris and Nathaniel Allison were killed 
in the battle of Fair Oaks, and Sergt. Samuel Logan was killed at the battle of Plymouth. 
The following died at Andersonville, Ga., while prisoners of war : Privates Edward Bark- 
man, William Beighly, John Burns, Moore M. Davis, Samuel Davis, Charles Lepley, James 
Martin, Thomas Mayer, Solomon Moser, Milton Myers, Richard Wick. 

The following died while prisoners of war at Florence, S. C. : 1st Serg^. Charles H. 
McClung, Sergt. Frederick A. Mondy, Corp. James H. Scott ; Privates William W. Davis, 
William S. Dickson, Joseph Goldinger, John Wilson. The following died at Charleston, 
S. C, while prisoners of war : Music. John Myers ; Privates Samuel B. McCandless, Perry 
O. Morrow, John Varley. The following died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., from 
disease contracted while prisoners of war : Corp. James M. Byers ; Privates Thomas S. 
Byers, John B. Campbell, Dickson Christy, Weston Hall, Joshua H. Perkins, James E. 
Rolston. Private Martin W. Banker is reported by comrades as dying while a prisoner 
of war, with no record of date or place, but probably while en route from one point to 
another. Capt. Samuel Martin was carried from his tent in Regimental camp on a 
stretcher while the battle of Fair Oaks was raging. He died a week later, June 8, 1862, at 
White House, Va. Private Hamilton C. Kennedy was placed into an ambulance during 
the "Seven Days' Battle," June 27, 1862, in a dying condition, and was never afterwards 
seen or heard from by any of his comrades. Private Hugh McElroy was also missing 
during the "Seven Days Battles," and has never since been seen or heard from. Five vet- 
erans, who were prisoners of war and were paroled, were honorably discharged by General 
Order of the War Department in the spring of 1865, when the war was practically ended : 
Corp. Jefferson Burtner; Privates R. P. Black, Emanuel Emminger, Thomas Eshenbaugh, 
and John Kennedy. Corp. Burtner was severely wounded at the battle of Plymouth, N. C, 
by the fragment of a shell and had a leg amputated. He is still living and has held a high 
official position in the Auditor General's Office of the State of Pennsylvania for many 
years. Seventeen were mustered out with the Co. at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, and 
received their final discharge at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865. They were as follows: 
Capt. Eli G. Cratty, Lieut. R R. Br>'Son, 1st Sergt. W. B. Sedwick, Sergt. John N. Mc- 
Carrier, Corp. H. C. Croup, Music. Aaron B. Hughes, Privates Adam Banner, James M. 
Bracken, George Barr, Gabriel Duffy, Harrison Pugh, James B. Rutter, William E. 
Stevenson, John M. Black, Henry J. Burns, Cyrus H. Croup, Jonathan Hockenberry ; the 
last four having joined the Co. during the last year of the war. After Capt. Cratty re- 
turned to the Regiment from being a prisoner of war, by virtue of seniority in rank, he 



88 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

assumed command of the Regiment; Col. Lehmann then being in command of the Sub- 
District of the Albemarle, and Lieut. Bryson commanded the Co. 

A SKETCH OF COMKaNY F. 

Co. F. was a Garion County Regiment, as fully four-fifths of its number came from 
that county, and its nucleus was known as the "Clarion Tenth." It was recruited in the 
main by Matthew B. McDowell, Josiah Zink and David Rimer, from the neighborhood of 
Rimersburg. The Co. was organized at Camp Orr by the election of the following 
officers: M. B. McDowell, Capt. ; Josiah Zink, 1st Lieut.; John Donaghy, 2d Lieut; 
David Rimer, 1st Sergt. The company was mustered into the service Dec. 7, 1861, and 
before the Regiment left Camp Orr it had the full maximum quota of 101. The total 
enrollment up to the end of its service was 114. Of these 7 were killed or died of wounds 
received in action, viz. : Sergt. VVm. McElhany, at Kinston ; Corp. Colin Boyd, at Fair 
Oaks; Corp. Benj. Mortimer, at Plymouth ; J. Rankin Boyle, died Aug. 17, '62, of wounds 
received at Fair Oaks; William Sanford, of wounds received at Kinston; Michael Wenner, 
Kinston ; Harmon Dunkle, of wounds received at Plymouth. Twenty-nine, captured at 
Plymouth, died while prisoners of war or immediately after being released at Camp 
Parole, from disease contracted while in Southern prisons ; of these 14 are known to 
have died at Andersonville, Ga. ; 1 at Charleston, S. C. ; 1 at Milledgville, Ga. ; 7 died at 
Camp Parole shortly after being released, and 6 have never been accounted for, but 
are supposed to have died en route, or at Florence, S. C. ; they are William Akins, Jacob 
Brock, J. S. Delp, Daniel Jones, J. Lowers and John Smuthers. Six were transferred, 
four to Co. G., one to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and one promoted to Captain U. S. 
Colored Troops. Three resigned : Captains McDowell and Zink, and Lieut. Neely. Two 
were discharged by reason of the expiration of 3 years term; one was absent at muster 
out of Co., and one was not on muster out roll. Twenty-nine were discharged on Surgeon's 
certificate: 12 were discharged by G. O. of the War Dept. shortly after being paroled as 
prisoners of war, by reason of the collapse of the Confederacy and five were mustered out 
with the Co., June 25, 186-5, receiving their final discharge at Harrisburg, Pa.. July 13. 1865. 
They were: 1st Sergt. Allen B. Cross; Privates William Boarts, Wilder M. Boyle; Benja- 
min Graham ; David Hartman. Those honorably discharged by G. O. of the War Depart- 
ment after being paroled or escaping from Southern prisons were : Capt. John Donaghy, 
who successfully escaped Nov. 20, 1S64 ; was discharged Dec. 9, 1864; 1st Lieut. James 
H. Chambers, paroled, and discharged March 15, 1865; Sergt. John H. White, successfully 
escaped, April 22, 1865, discharged June 7, 1865 to date May 24, 1865 ; Corp. Samuel H. 
Stewart, was absent on furlough when the Co. was mustered out ; Music. William D. 
Keefer, paroled Feb. 26, 1865, discharged June 12, 1865, to date May 15, 1865; Private 
Samuel W. Anderson, paroled April 21, 1865, discharged May 31. 1865. to date May 18, 
1865; John H. Friel, paroled Dec. 11, 1864; discharged May 7, 1865, to date June 25, 1865; 
William A. Fulton, discharged August 15, 1865, to date June 25, 1865 ; Alexander Keith, 
paroled Dec. 11, 1864; discharged June 19, 1865; William L. Reed, paroled Dec. 11, 1864, 
discharged March 24, 1865, to date December 17, 1864; Theodore G. Sloan, successfully 
escaped March 24, 1865 ; discharged June 7, 1865, to date May 24, 1865 ; Milton Thompson, 
paroled April 21, 1865, discharged June 2, 1865, to date May 18, 1865 ; William B. Watterson, 
paroled April 21, 1865, discharged June 2. 1865, to date May 18, 1865. 

Sergt. John H. White, who was with the Co. from the time it left Camp Orr until it 
was captured, and who successfully made his escape, referring to Andersonville prison, says : 

"James Burns was the first to die; he was a good soldier; never off duty in all his 
service. Sergt. Armagost, Sergt. Graham, Jacob Ruff, Sebastian Zirl, Reese Thompson, 
David Anderson, Robert McGarrah, all died in Andersonville. I was in the first detach- 
ment to leave the prison ; went to Savannah, and from there to Blackshear Station, where 
I was taken sick and then was moved to Thomasville, Ga., where I was put in an old 
church ; and from there I was taken back to Andersonville, where I arrived on New 
Year's day, 1865. Gill Sloan made his escape on the way back to Andersonville and got 
through to our lines, near the Dry Tortugas, Fla. He was twice recaptured en route, but 
finally succeeded in reaching our lines. I made my escape from Andersonville in April, 



COMPANY F 89 

1865, and after covering pretty nearly all of the State of Georgia, I finally struck Wilson's 
Cavalry and stayed -with them until Lee's men commenced to come bac'K. I succeeded 
in getting a Rebel uniform and flunked in with some returning Rebels, and played off as 
Reb. I drew rations at Kirby Smith's Camp, and finally reached Dalton, Ga., about a 
month after I made my escape." 

The following received severe wounds in action : At battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 
31, 1862: Samuel H. Stuart, William Bostaph, Harmon Dunkle, Michael Kissinger, Michael 
McNanny, Theodore G. Sloan ; at Plymouth : Capt. Donaghy, Lieut. Chambers, William L. 
Reed. 

Private Lemuel C. Slagle, who was wounded on Jan. 27, 1865, on an expedition from 
Plymouth, N. C, to Bertie County, N. C, and who was transferred to Co. A., 18th 
Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps, on account of his wounds, had a close call for his 
life. Slagel belonged to the rear guard and was mistaken for the enemy. The bullet struck 
him between the sixth and seventh ribs, within two inches of the spine. Surgeon Frick, 
referring to this wound says: 

"It was easily diagnosed as a penetrating wound of the chest, and as no exit wound 
existed, and the bullet could not be located, the inference was that it lodged, hopelessly 
within the cavity of the chest, and would be, necessarily, hopeless as to recovery. I had 
the patient made as comfortable as possible in the cabin of our Hdqrs. boat. We reached 
Plymouth at 12 o'clock that night, and finding the patient no worse, I returned to the 
hospital early next morning and re-examined the patient. I discovered a small nodule, 
not visible, but manifest to the touch, which then led to the diagnosis that the bullet had 
secureh' lodged between the 1st and 2d ribs in front. A careful incision revealed the cor- 
rectness of this diagnosis, and I succeeded in extracting it without its dropping back into 
the cavity of the chest. I then kept the entire chest enveloped with hot fomentations, 
changed every few hours, after a method at that time recommended in the German med- 
ical schools, and published in our medical journals. I obtained a water-bed, on which 
rhe patient rested with so much comfort that subsequently in his delirium he would try 
to catch water-beds for the use of his comrades, imagining that he saw them floating in 
the air around him. On the Sunday evening that Plymouth was attacked, Slagle was 
among the patients tliar T sent with the steamer Massasoit to Roanoke Island. His wound 
was thoroughly convalescent. After my release from Confederate prison, while on duty 
at Chesapeake Hospital, near Fortress Monroe, I had the pleasure of a visit from Slagle 
as he passed througii on his way to join the Veteran Reserve Corps." 

Comrade Slagle was at the last Reunion of the Regiment, and was then hale and 
hearty. He resides at East Brady, where he has been engaged in business for many years. 

Corp. William Bostaph, who was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, and discharged 
from the service on account of being disabled as a result of the wounds, is Senior Vice 
Commander in Chief of the G. .\. R., having been elected to that position at the National 
Encam.pment at Salt Lake City in August, lO^P. He is a resident of Ogden, Utah, and is 
by profession a civil and hydraulic engineer. 

Capt. Donaghv's account of the organization of the Co., or rather how he became 
identified with it. is told in his "Army Experience."' He had served with the "Duquesne 
Greys'' (12th Regiment) in the three months' service and was assisting in recruiting a 
company at Pittsburg before he went to Camp Orr. He says: 

■'Capt. Tames A. McKee, who commanded the 'Jackson Independent Blues,' Co. A 
of the 12th, the oldest company organization in Pittsburg, was endeavoring to reorganize 
the company. Seven men were all they had enlisted, and I went along with them to camp 
at Kittanning. I was not sworn in, but consented to stay in camp and take charge of the 
men while the Captain and Lieutenant remained in the city recruiting the company up to 
the required number. The men iiad not yet been uniformed nor armed. We were no sooner 
settled in ramp than I began to drill my small command. One man was detailed for cook, 
which left me six men, at most, for drill, but I put them through all the evolutions 
that so small a squad could perform. 1 succeeded in attracting the attention of the com- 
manders of other squads, some of whom not having had military experience asked me to 
take their recruits and themselves temporarily into my command for drill. I thus found 
myself in command of men enough to form and drill in the school of the company, and 
on dress parade and battalion drill I took my place as company commander. The nucleus 
of the "Clarion Tenth" had entered my drill-time company and had grown rapidly under 
my eye. for recruiting in the country districts was much more prosperous than it was in 
the citv. Some of its members approached me on the subject of my becoming their Cap- 
tain ; for they suspected that the man who had been their first choice for that position was 



90 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

about to seli out to some other oerson. Strange to say, my ambition was not then up to 
the Captain mark, and besides it seemed to me that the person who was expecting that 
office was acting fairly with his men, so I did not encourage them in their project. They 
were determined to have me with them. The man whom they expected to have for first 
lieutenant was popular with them, and he wanted that position whether the other man or I 
should be captain, so they decided that the man whom they had favored for second lieutenant 
should fall back to the position of first sergeant, that I might become second lieutenant. I 
consented to that arrangement and joined the company. An election the next day but con- 
firmed that disposition of the officers — viz.: Mathew B. McDowell, Captain; Josiah Zink, 
First Lieutenant; myself as Second Lieutenant, and David Rimer as First Sergeant. The 
company was from Rimersburg, Clarion County — a part of the state I had never been in, 
nor had I met any of the men before. Considering this, and the fact that I had not brought 
a recruit to the company nor paid a dollar towards its expenses, I thought it remarkable 
that I should inspire the men with such confidence. The company had eighty men enlisted. 
Most of them were granted furloughs during the Christmas holidays, and on their return 
they brought with them recruits enough to fill the company to the required number of 101 
men. 

Co. F was detached from the Regiment from June 27, 1863, until January 3, 1864. 
During this period it was stationed at Roanoke Island, N. C. In his "Army Experience," 
Capt. Donaghy describes life on the Island in the following terms : 

"I had with me my 1st Heutenant, James H. Chambers, and Lieut. Edgar Lee of Co. 
A [101st Regiment], whom I detailed as post adjutant. The island is about twelve miles 
long and three or four miles wide, and contained about a hundred white families, and a 
total of about 2,000 negroes who were settled on a reservation called Camp Foster. Each 
family was allowed a lot of about an acre of land, on which they built their log cabins. 

"On Monday morning I found a crowd awaiting me at headquarters. There were 
negroes by the hundred asking for orders for rations, and whites too, who were destitute. 
Some had come to the island in boats and asked permission to trade, or to buy supplies 
from the sutlers. One white couple who were dissatisfied with each other, wished to be 
divorced, and as I was the only governing authority on the island, I was asked to give a 
decree of separation. I granted most of the requests, but the latter was too much for me. 
I advised the couple to live for the present as they pleased, until the civil government should 
be restored, and then, if they were still of the same mind, they could apply to the proper 
tribunal. 

"The post sutler sent to me, with his compliments, a supply of delicacies, which 
included several bottles of champagne. I was surprised at his generosity, but accepted his 
gifts with thanks, at the same time mentally resolving not to favor him by doing anything 
at variance with my duty ; but these good-will offerings did, no doubt, impress me favorably 
towards him. 

"On the second day [July 24, 1863] I heard of some schooners being seen in 
Currituck Sound, and I sent Lieut. Geissenhainer with a small force, on the tug North State, 
after them, and he captured one of the vessels — a sloop — with its crew and cargo of 
contraband goods. My successor, Capt. James Sheafer, was somethig of a sailor, and with 
him I enjoyed several cruises about the sound in the captured yacht. Co. A, 101st, was 
Capt. Sheafer's company, and he had been absent at the north. His commission was older 
than mine, so I was again relieved July 24, when he returned to duty. 

"On the 3d of August I was on board the stern-wheel tug and gunboat North State, 
as it steamed up the Little Alligator river towing some empty scows which were to be 
brought back to Plymouth, laden with lumber. I was in command, and our party consisted 
of Capt. Gallop of the steamer, and his crew, twelve soldiers, and 18 negro laborers, and 
besides these we had on board, returning to their homes, eight citizens of Tyrrell County 
who had fallen into Union hands in various ways. 

"During our absence our department commander, Gen. B. F. Butler, visited the island 
and inspected the troops and works. On the day of our return Col. Garke, of the 85th 
New York, arrived with 100 men to reinforce us and to clear Currituck canal of guerrillas. 

"On Saturday, the 8th [August], a force went out, but could not find the enemy. 
Gark and Sheafer were with it, while I staid at headquarters making out permits for 
various things for the people. Next day, Sunday, I enjoyed my liberty by riding about 
the northeast part of the island, Lieuts. Chambers, Butts, Laughlin and Sergt. Hawn, the 
three latter belonging to Col. Clarke's force of 100, accompanying me. The principal event 
of the day was our visit to Fort Raleigh. Mr. Doe, a resident, led us to a secluded place 
in a wood and pointed out some inequalities in the ground as the remains of a star-shaped 
fort which was built by the colony established by Sir Whiter Raleigh in 1587, and which 
was the scene of the massacre by the Indians, of the unfortunate colonists. 

"On the 19th I rode to headquarters and learned of a wreck on the ocean beach, and 
that the North State was about to take a party there. Lieut. Geissenhainer and I got 
permission to go along. A sail of three hours brought us to Oregon Inlet, south of Roanoke. 








Corp. Robert J. Thompson. 
(Co. E.) 



John Adams. 
(Private Co. G) 



John D. Taggart. 
(Private Co. I.) 





Sergt. J. S. Hodyl, 
(Co. 1.) 



John S. Moorhead. 
(Sergeant Co. D.) 



COMPANY G 



91 



We dined with Gallop on the steamer. The vessel was the U. S. gunboat Crocus, lately 
from New York. At a dwelling near by we saw the crew, who were drying their clothes 
at bon-fires built for the purpose. We walked up the beach until we were opposite the 
wreck, which lay out among the breakers. The night was stormy when the vessel struck 
the bar. A line was thrown to the shore by means of a rocket; by that line a hawser was 
drawn ashore by the people who were there, and by this means the crew had saved them- 
selves. When we were there the wind had abated, but the waves were .ill pretty high. 

"Geissenhainer and I and some others donned improvised bathing suits and went out 
to the wreck, holding on with firm grip to the hawser while large waves dashed over us. 
Curiosity was our motive. 

"The North State brought the shipwrecked crew to Roanoke, but as the steamer 
was not ready to return as soon as Lieut. G. and I were, we came back with the sutler in 
his yacht, but we did not reach the island until midnight, for we were delayed by running 
upon a bar, and all hands had to get out into the water and push the boat over the bar. 
The sutler took care of us at his quarters till morning, and as he was a liberal entertainer, 
we were not allowed to go away dry or hungry." 

The surviving comrades of the Regiment will be glad to know that Capt. Donaghy is 
able to enjoy life in his latter years. The following notice is taken from a Florida paper, 
issued Feb. 10, 1909: 

Some friends of Capt. Donaghy — Mr. Chas. Le Bihan and wife, also Mr. C. S. 
Schlomer and wife, of New York Cit}--, have come to Mrs. Spofford's at the north end of the 
lake to spend the winter months. Mr. Arthur Spofford has built for Captain Donaghy a 
good size rowboat of graceful lines, on which the captain intends to entertain his friends. 
An appropriate ceremony marked the launching of the boat. Among those who participated 
were the above named ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Sawyer and Mrs. White, the Hon. J. E. 
Alexander and others. The following lines written by the captain were recited by Mrs. Le 
Bihan, whose diction was greatly admired. 

The Baptism of Violet. 



We meet beneath fair sunny skies 
To launch this boat; likewise baptize. 
In storm or gale may she keep afloat ; 
Escape the fool who rocks the boat; 
May serve the turn of angler keen. 
Or loving pair — with none between. 
May she prove useful on the wave, 
If need be means of life to save. 
To ailing frames who ply the oar 
May she the glow of health restore. 



From her rude deck of a moonlight night 
May tuneful voices give delight. 
Of course a boat lacks sense of taste 
To give her wine were wilful waste — 
A liquid made for human throttle — 
And yet; with her we'll break a bottle. 
So now, dear friends, we make it clear 
We wish for her a good career. 
So push her in : her bottom wet. 
For fair one, name her "Violet." 



SKETCH OF COMPANY G. 

Co. G. was chiefly recruited in Indiana and Allegheny Counties, by John Stuchell, 
James J. Morrow, of Indiana County, and William H. Irwin of Allegheny, Pa. The 
Allegheny County recruits came principally from the village of Tarentum and the adjoin- 
ing townships, who were enrolled by W. H. Irwin during the autumn months of 1861. The 
company was organized at Camp Orr during the winter of 1861-G2 by merging the two 
squads, and the Co. was mustered into the service on Jan. 10, 1862 with John Stuchell, 
Capt. ; William H. Irwin, 1st Lieut. ; James J. Morrow, 2d Lieut. As Co. G. was among 
the last companies organized at Camp Orr it never had the maximum enrollment, in fact, 
the total enrollment during the war was only 96, there being only four additions to the 
Co. after it went to the front. The aggregate mortality was 36, eighteen deaths occurring 
in Southern prisons, or immediately after being released ; 14 by disease in camp or hospital, 
and three killed in battle, or died of wounds received in action. They were Lieut. Z. M. 
Cline, killed April 18, 1865, at battle of Plymouth; Balser Graft and Elijah Shierer, who 
died of wounds received in action at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862; Jacob Weaver, who 
was seriously wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, subsequently died as a result, but when and 
where is not recorded ; Corp. Smith Kennedy, who was severely wounded in battle of 
Fair Oaks, was transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps as a result of his wounds, and 
never returned to the Co. Of those who died while prisoners of war the following are 
known to have died at Andersonville, Ga. : Peter Barr, Samuel Barr, William Oliver 
Black, James Evrit, George M. Feel, John Maynard, Caleb E. Moore, Samuel Oiler, George 
Shakely, Henry Wyant ; Sergt. John Clark and Private John T. Weaver are known to have 



92 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

died at Florence, S. C. ; John Adams and John Leslie died while en route to be paroled; 
William C. McQuskey died at Charleston, S. C, while en route to Florence; S. Hagerty, 
and George Schell died after being released from disease incurred while prisoners of war. 
The first man of the Regiment to die at Andersonville, Ga., was John Maynard. He was 
captured while on a reconnoissance near Colerain, N. C., Jan. 22, 1864, and died of 
pneumonia, at Andersonville, March 27, 1864, nearly six weeks before his comrades arrived 
there. His grave number is 183, and the burial record credits him to the 105th Penna. 
Regt. Thirteen of the Co. were discharged by reason of disability incurred while in the 
service, on Surgeon's certificate; eight were transferred, three of whom were promoted 
to field and staff; twenty were mustered out with the Co. June 25, 1865, and received their 
final discharge at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865. Eighteen of these belonged to the original 
enrollment. 

Among Lieut. Irwin"s recruits from Tarentum and neighborhood were Sergt. John 
Clark, who died at Florence, S. C, Feb. 1, 1865, and William Oliver Black, who died at An- 
dersonville July 18. 18G4 ; Smith Kennedy, who was transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps 
on account of wounds received at the battle of Fair Oaks ; John Adams, who died while a 
prisoner of war; Samuel Bagley, James Dunlap, Daniel Greek, Washington Hazlett ; Isaac 
L. Kuhn, who died at Beaufort (N. C.) Hospital, March 21, 1864; John Leslie, died while 
a prisoner of war ; Allison Mitchell, wounded in "Seven Days' Battles"' and Jesse G. Stephens, 
who died, June 28, 1862, after marching across White Oak Swamp during the ''Seven Days' 
Battles." 

When Adjutant Irwin was recruiting, the citizens of Tarentum called a meeting in 
the Tarentum school house to assist him, which was attended by nearly the entire male por- 
tion of the village. A practical joke was played on one of the citizens of the town who was 
given to boasting of his prowess, the result of which was, that never after his experience 
of that night was he heard to express any desire for martial activity. 

The following were mustered out with the Co. at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, re- 
ceiving their final discharge, at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865; Capt. J. J. Morrow, 1st 
Sergt. V/illiam C. Bell, Sergt. George Baker, Sergt. John Black, Sergt. .Andrew Shankle, 
Sergt. Robert Whitacre, Corp. William McGeary, Musician Loy B. Young; Privates George 
W. Bruner, William Carson, George W. Dies, James Dunlap, George M. Gourley, George 
W. Grubbs, Robert A. A. Patterson, James H. Roger, Albert M. Russell, Moses F. Steele, 
Andrew Whitacre. Musician Saul A. Hagerty, who was a prisoner of war from Apr. 20, 
1804. until Feb. 24, 1865, was honorably discharged by General Orders of the War Depart- 
ment to date June 26, 1865. Private John Miller, who was captured at Plymouth, April 20, 
1864. and paroled April 1. 1865. was honorably discharged by General Orders of the War 
Department July 14, 1865. 

Lieut. Zachariah M. Cline, who was killed on Monday evening, April 18, the second 
day of the battle of Plymouth, N. C, by a fragment of a shell, was from Cowanshannock 
Township, Armstrong County. Pa., a son of John Cline. He was unmarried, and from the 
time the Regiment went from the State until his death he was continuously with the Co. 
and was well esteemed by both officers and men of the entire Regiment. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY H. 

Co. H was recruited principally in the western part of Clarion County, for the 99th 
Penna. Regiment. George W. Kelly, who had been a compositor on the Philadelphia 
Ledger, had succeeded in enrolling eight or ten recruits in the east, and found it difficult 
to get any additions came west and on reaching Clarion made the acquaintance of James F. 
Mackey and J. Milton Alexander and induced them to co-operate with him in recruiting 
a company, promising Mackey the captaincy and Alexander the 2d lieutenancy. Mackey at 
that time was conducting a carriage and blacksmith shop in Clarion, and Alexander was 
assisting his father conduct a hotel, of which the latter was proprietor. The three went to 
work with enthusiasm, Kelly securing zouave uniforms from the east for the men. The 
Co. was organized at Clarion according to the original program with James F. Mackey, 



COMPANY H 93 

Capt. ; George W. Kelly. 1st Lieut; and J. M. Alexander, 2d Lieut. Having the required 
quota in February, Mackey, Alexander and Kelly went to Kittanning, the nearest point to a 
railroad, in order to arrange for transportation to Washington City, where the 99th was 
then stationed with eight companies. While in Kittanning they came in contact with the 
officers of the 103d, and were induced to change their former plans and cast their lot with 
the Regiment. This addition to the Regiment gave it the full complement of ten companies, 
seven of which had the maximum quota of men. The Regiment then had orders to leave 
for Harrisburg, expecting to secure the additional company at the State capital. It was 
arranged with the officers of Co. H that they should return to Clarion at once and follow 
the Regiment to Harrisburg. No better version can be given of Company H's departure 
from home, its arrival at the Regiment, and its first marches, than is found in the following 
letter, written by John IMackey, son of Capt. Mackey, to his mother, under date of April 3U. 
1862. Young Mackey, who was then perhaps thirteen years old, accompanied his father in 
the capacity of servant, but really as a companion. He was not enlisted or mustered into 
service, but was with the Regiment during the first months of its service. 

"Dear Mother : Last night as I was going to bed I received your letter. We are 
now about 6 or 8 miles from Yorktown, and we have a very pleasant camp. One of the 
hoys captured a mule the other day, and we were going to keep it, but he sold it. I will 
now give you a list of the tramps we have made since we left home : 

"Clarion Zouaves, Capt. James F. Mackey, Co. H, lil3d Regiment, P. V., marched 
from Clarion. Feb. 27. 1862. Crossed the river at James Watterson's early in the morning, 
Feb. 28, and marched to Kittanning, where the men received woolen blankets in time to 
take 4 o'clock (P. M.) train for Pittsburg, where we arrived at 8 P. M. March 1. took 
the Lightning (Express) at 4 P. M., for Harrisburg; took supper at 2 A. M., at Tyrone, 
and arrived at Harrisburg at 3 :40 A. M., March 2, and marched out to Camp Curtin, where 
we joined the 103d Regiment, and some of the men received their overcoats, rations, and 
were mustered into the Regiment. Same day took cars for Baltimore at 4 o'clock (P. M.), 
where we arrived, and took supper at 12 oclock, midnight. 

"After .supper we took the cars for Washington City, where we arrived about 8 
A. M., March 3, and quartered at the Soldiers' Rest, remaining there until March 5, when 
we marched to Camp Reynold, two miles east of Washington. March 10, marched to Camp 
Lloyd, Meridian Hill, two miles N. W. of Washington. March 28, marched to Camp Snow 
Hill, near Alexandria. March 30, marched to the wharf at Alexandria. March 31, went 
aboard the steamer Hero, bound for Fortress Monroe. April 2. our steamer ran into a 
schooner having five men on board, sinking it ; one man was drowned, but the other four 
got safely aboard our boat. April 3, landed at Fortress Monroe, disembarked and marched 
to Camp Casey, eight miles from Fortress Monroe and two miles from Newport News. 
April 15, marched towards Yorktown, sixteen miles, and laid in a field without tents, one- 
half mile from Warwick Court House. April 17, marched to Camp Winfield Scott, within 
four miles of Yorktown. This is the last of the story." 

Co. H had a total enrollment of 106. however seven of whom failed to accompany 
the Co. from Qarion, and are on the rolls of the Co. as deserters. The total mortuary list 
was 40, eight of whom were killed in battle or died of wounds received in action. They 
were : Hezekiah Irwin, Francis Judy, John Loll and Adam Turney, at Fair Oaks, "Va., May 
31, 1862; Jackson Boyd, Hiram Reed, and George H. Wetzel, at Kinston. N. C, Dec. 14, 
1862 ; Sergt. William Johnston, at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 1864. Seventeen died while 
prisoners of war, or immediately after being released from disease incurred while in prison. 
They were : Sergt. Edwin Terwilliger, Corp. Andrew J. Maze ; Privates Thomas N. Fulton, 
Herman Girts, and Robert Reed, who died at Andersonville, Ga. ; Private William W. 
Sheets, David Thomas, William Stroup and Daniel Zimmerman, who died in Florence, 
S. C. ; Corp. John Wion ; Privates, Joseph C. K. Groce, Daniel Huddleson, Samuel Wads- 
worth, who died at Camp Parole, .A.nnapolis, Md. ; Private James L. Travis, at Charleston, 
S. C. ; Privates David W. Girts and John A. Redick, supposed to have died en route, as 
they were not seen by comrades after leaving Andersonville, Ga. 

Corp. William A. Jameson is recorded as buried at Andersonville, his grave number 
being 4,590. Evidently one of the North Carolina men who had deserted from the Con- 
federate army had been substituted for him. Jameson was absent sick when the Co. was 
captured, and the records show that he was admitted to the Haddington General Hospital, 
Philadelphia, Aug. 23, 1864, and was discharged March 15, 1865, by reason of expiration of 



94 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

term. William Hall, who also was absent when the Co. was captured, and according to 
official records was discharged on Surgeon's certificate May 31, 1864, is recorded as >uried 
in grave 7,286, Andersonville Cemetery. 

Private Thomas Davis, who was confined at Andersonville, and is shown by the 
records to have been mustered out with the Co., is also recorded as buried in grave 3,798, 
Andersonville, National Cemetery. 

The following were mustered out with the Co., at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, 
receiving their final discharges at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865 : 2d Lieut. S. D. Burns, 
1st Sergt. Sebastian Cook, Sergt. Jacob Rupert, Sergt. Samuel Rupert, Musician John 
J. Ashbaugh, Thomas Davis, William King, William Kleck, Theodore McPherson, Sebastian 
Neidderriter, Lester R. Warner and Eugene E. Widel. 

Capt. Mackey was continually with his Co. until it was captured ; was paroled March 
1, 1865, and was discharged on account of reduced command, March 12, 1865. Lieut. Geo. 
W. Kelly was absent on recruiting service when the Co. was captured. He was discharged 
by reason of expiration of term, Feb. 21, 1865. Lieut. J. Milton Alexander resigned Feb. 
13, 1863. He left the service because of a disagreement with Col. Lehmann, not on account 
of impaired health or dislike of the service. His departure was regretted by the entire Co. 

COMPANY I. 

Company I was recruited from the Counties of Butler, Mercer and Venango. 
Wilson C. Maxwell, who was authorized by Governor Curtin to raise a company, took 
the initiative in recruiting the company. After securing the promise of a score or more, 
he called a meeting at the M. E. Church at Harrisville, Butler County, on Sept. 16, 1861, 
at which he succeeded in increasing the enrollment to nearly half the required quota of 
101, officers and men. Finding some difficulty in getting recruits, he made a deal with 
William Fielding and Wm. H. H. Kiester, promising Fielding the first lieutenancy and 
Kiester the second, if they assisted him in securing the required quota. They had re- 
cently returned from the three months' service which gave them the glamour of being 
veterans and being very democratic in manner and good mixers, they soon succeeded in 
getting the required quota. The Company left Harrisville for Camp Orr, Kittanning, 
Dec. 16, 1861, making the trip in country wagons, and arriving at its destination Dec. 19. 
Shortly after its ari;val at Camp Orr, the formality of electing officers was carried out 
in compliance with a previous understanding, resulting as follows : Captain, Wilson C. 
Maxwell; First Lieutenant, William Fielding; Second Lieutenant, William H. H. Kiester; 
Orderly Sergeant, G. K. M. Crawford; Sergeants, Jackson McCoy, John C. Applegate, 
John S. Hodil, and James McKain. Corporals, William McBride, Andrew J. McCoy, John 
B. Porter, John McAnallon, James Harper, William Gorman, David McCoy, Alpheus 
Walker. 

Capt. Maxwell being promoted March 1, 1862, to the lieutenant colonelcy of the 
Regiment, Fielding succeeded him as captain. William C. McCrum, a protege of Col. 
Lehmann, was appointed first lieutenant. The latter came from the vicinity of Pittsburgh 
and was not known to any of the company, and in consequence was regarded by the men 
as an interloper, and not finding the place congenial, he resigned April 10, 1862. His 
brief connection with the company hardly gave the men an opportunity to form an esti- 
mate of his character. However, his demeanor was quiet and gentlemanly, and had he 
remained with the company, and possessed the requisites for his position, he would have 
soon overcome the prejudice of the men. The vacancy caused by McCrum's resignation 
was filled by Lieut. Kiester. An election for the second liteutenancy was held at White 
Oak Swamp about June 23, 1862, resulting in the election of First Sergt. G. K. M. Craw- 
ford, who was commissioned, to date June 30, 1862. Jackson McCoy was promoted to 
First. Sergt. and William McBride from Corporal to Sergeant. The original member- 
ship of the company was one hundred and five (105), four more than the requisite quota 
of officers and men. Of these, sixty-five (65) were from Butler County; twenty-four 
(24) from Venango County and sixteen (16) from Mercer County. Of the original mem- 
bership of Co. I, only eleven remained to be mustered out with the Co. Fourteen were 



COMPANY I 95 

killed in battle, or died of wounds received in action ; thirty died in Confederate prisons, 
or immediately after release, from disease incurred while prisoners of war and before 
they could reach their homes ; eleven died of disease before the capture of the Co. ; three 
were transferred; five were mustered out by order of the War Department; two deserted 
and thirty were discharged on Surgeon's certificate. Samuel A. Walker, who was on 
detached service at Fairfax Seminary when the Co. was captured, was discharged Feb. 
24, 18G5, more than two months after the expiration of his term of service. John Mc- 
Guirk, who was a prisoner of war from April 20, 1864, until Dec. 10, 1864, was discharged 
April 13, 1865, to date Feb. 22, 1865. Sergt. William I^IcBride, who was shot through 
the throat at the battle of Plymouth, and left on the field of battle, supposed to be mor- 
tally wounded, recovered and was sent to Andersonville, and was paroled at Savannah, 
Ga., Nov. 30, 1864; was discharged by General Order of the War Department, June 21, 
1865. Corp. Nathan E. Davis was mustered out in June, by order of the War Depart- 
ment, having been captured with the company and paroled, after confinement in Ander- 
sonville prison. The eleven men mustered out with the company re-enlisted as veterans, 
Jan. 1, 1864, and were prisoners of war. They were : First. Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester, 
Acting Second Lieut. Jackson McCoy, Sergt. Michael Duffy, Corp. John A. Kelley, Corp. 
Andrew J. McCoy, Drummer James N. Elliott ; Privates, William P. Dunlap, William H. 
Gilmore, Joseph S. Griffin, Robert McElphatrick and Thomas McCoy. Private William P. 
Dunlap, a veteran, was absent on furlough when Co. was mustered out. 

Killed in battle, or died of wounds received in action : At battle of Fair Oaks — Eli- 
jah H. McDonald, Fowler Miller, Thomas O'Connor, Thomas L. Morris, Samuel Sylvies 
and Matthew McNees. At battle of Kinston — Patrick Nolan, James Collingwood, William 
Powers, George W. Grifiin, Calvin McCoy, Milo A. Sankey, James K. McCleary. At battle 
of Plymouth — Samuel P. Range. 

Of the above, ^McDonald, Miller, Nolan, CollingT^'Ood, Griffin and Powers were 
killed instantly; Sylvies was left on the battle field of Fair Oaks, mortally wounded and 
was removed to Richmond, where he died, June 6, 1862 ; Morris was taken to Annapolis, 
Md., where he died June 24, 1862, and was buried in the Nat. Cem. there, his grave mark 
being 1,799 ; McNees was also taken to Annapolis, where he died July 23, 1862, and was 
buried there in the Nat. Cem., grave 1,892 ; there is no record of how and where Thomas 
O'Connor died ; McCoy lingered two days, expiring Dec. 16 ; Sankey died Jan. 7, 1863, 
and McCleary, Mar. 7, 1863 ; Samuel P. Range, who was mortally wounded at the battle 
of Plymouth, died there; his remains were subsequently interred in the National Ceme- 
tery at New Bern, N. C, grave 1,137, plot 7. 

Two others of Co. I were left on the battlefield of Plymouth, supposed to be mor- 
tally wounded, Sergt. McBride, already mentioned, and William Gilmore. The latter was 
shot in the side, the ball passing around the abdomen and coming out on the opposite 
side; however, he soon recovered and followed his comrades to Andersonville, was 
paroled, and is living at this writing, at Mechanicsville, Pa. 

The following died in prison or from the effects of the exposure incurred while 
there, while en route into our lines or in the hospital after returning, but before they 
reached their homes: Serg^t. William Gorman, died at Andersonville, Nov. 23, 1864. Sergt. 
Jacob S. Kiester, died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 23, 1864. Corp. James Range, died at Flor- 
ence, S. C, Jan. 25, 1865. Corp. Hiram Donaldson, died at Florence, S. C, Jan. 25, 1864. 
James Harper, died at Annapolis, Md., Jan. 25, 1865 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, grave 
356. Corp. Albert G. C. Johnston, died at Andersonville, Ga., July 4, 1864 ; buried in Nat. 
Cem.. Andersonville, grave 2,889. Music. Oliver P. Harris, fifer, died at Charleston. S. C, 
Oct 6, 1864. Joseph Blakely, died Apr. 11, 1865, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in Nat. Cem., 
Annapolis, grave 1,264 ; Private Blakely was wounded and captured at Battle of Fair Oaks, 
and after recovery, paroled. Charles Cochran, died at Andersonville, Aug. 4, 1864, buried in 
Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 4,729. Arthur Crawford, last seen was at Florence, S. C, 
where it was reported that he had taken the Confederate oath of allegiance. William H. 
Croop, died at Andersonville, Aug. 3, 1864; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 4,682. 
Samuel H. Dunlap, died at Relay House, Md., Mar. 22, 1865, after being paroled. David 



96 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

M. Gallaher, died at Andersonville, Aug. 20, 1864; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonvillc, 
grave 2,988. Oliver P. Hardy, died in Confederate prison, Sept. 15, 1864. Christopher 
Henderson, died at Annapolis, Mar. 16, 1865; buried in Nat. Cem. Annapolis, grave 910. 
.Alexander Hilliard, died in Confederate prison, Jan. 30, 1865. John S. Joseph, died in 
hospital, Wilmington, N. C, Spring of 1865, after being paroled ; buried in Nat. Cem., Wil- 
mington, grave 990. (Burial record "L. R. Joseph"). Epaphroditus Kiester, died at Ander- 
sonville, July 20, 1864; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 3,634. James S. Lytle, 
was paroled Dec, 1864, and died soon afterwards. James McGhee, died at Andersonville, 
July 28, 1864; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 4,123. James McSorley, died in 
Andersonville prison (no record of date) ; he had served in the Mexican war. William 
Major, died at Andersonville, July 22, 1864; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 3,793. 
Francis Nutt, died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 9, 1864. Samuel P. Range, died of wounds re- 
ceived in the battle of Plymouth. Robert M. Seton, died July 8, 1864, at Andersonville, grave 
3,057 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville. David Stinedurf, capt. at Plymouth ; paroled, 
and died en route home. Paul L. Taylor, died in Confederate prison ; no further record. 
Hugh A. Weakley, died at Annapolis, Md., Dec. 24, 1864. James Cowen and John W. Miller 
are on record as deserters, the latter Feb. 21, 1863; the former Feb. 24, 1863. 

The transferred were : Capt. Maxwell, transferred as field officer ; Sergt. John 
C. Applegate, promoted to Sergt. Maj., May 1, 1863, and Sergt. John S. Hodil, discharged 
July 18, 1863, and mustered same day, as hospital steward, in the United States Army, 
from which he was discharged. Oct. 28, 1865. 

The following privates who enlisted with the company died of disease in 1862: 
Thomas J. Day, typhoid fever, at Washington, D. C, April 15, 1862 ; buried in Military 
Asylum Cemetery, District of Columbia. James M. Maxwell, brother of Lieut. Col. Max- 
well ; tvphoid fever. May 5. 1862, at Camp Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, Va. James P. 
McLaughlin, typhoid fever. May 10, 1862, Washington, D. C. ; buried in Military Asylum 
Cemetery, D. C. Simon Duffy, May 10, 1862, Washington, D. C. ; buried in Military 
.Asylum Cemetery. Washington. D. C. John Ghost, died of typhoid fever, June 17, 1862, at 
White Oak Swamp, Va. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Seven Pines, Va. William Joseph, July 2, 

1862, Washington, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. Patrick McAnallon, July 5, 1862, 
at Harrison's Landing, Va. James Hamilton, July 16, 1862, Washington, D. C. ; buried in 
Cypress Hill Cemetery. D. C. Matthew McNees. died July 23, 1862. at Annapolis, Md. ; 
buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 18,020. Henry Hobaugh, died at Suffolk, Va. 
Samuel Berringer, who enlisted at the organization of the company, died at Beaufort, N. C, 
Dec. 14, 1863, and was buried in the Nat. Cemetery, New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,223. 
Capt. William Fielding, Jan. 14, 1865 ; absent on recruiting service, when Co. was captured. 
First Lieut. William C. McCrum, April 10, 1862; resigned. Second Lieut. G. K. M. Craw- 
ford, July 17, 1863; resigned. The following were discharged on surgeon's certificate: 
Sergt. James McKain. at Baltimore, Md. ; do date. Corp. David McCoy, June 16, 1862 ; left 
company May 30. 1862. seriously ill with malarial fever, for hospital. Bottoms Bridge, Va. 
Corp. Alpheus Walker, April 27, 1863, at Providence, R. I. Corp. John McAnallon, Feb. 27, 

1863, at New Bern, N. C. Corp. David S. Ramsay, Sept. 17, 1862, at Harrisburg, Pa. Music. 
Daniel Albright, left Co., sick, Aug. 7, 1862. 

Privates: Patton Bell, Oct. 12, 1862; Major ], Davidson, June 24, 1862; David 
Eakin. Jan. 7, 1862; John Fielding, July 7, 1862; Thomas C. Hackett, Nov. 19, 1862. at 
Philadelphia; William Hamilton, Mar. 28, 1863. at New Bern, N. C. ; Samuel Kelley, Dec. 
27, 1862, at Baltimore, Md. ; Joseph Perry McAnallon, Mar. 28, 1863; David McElphat- 
rick, Nov. 4, 1862, at Governors Island, N. Y. ; Helm J. McGill, Aug. 11, 1864, Newark, 
N. J.; Samuel McNees, Aug. 3, 1862; Albert G. Mayberry ; J. W. Orr, Aug. 13, 1862, at 
Baltimore, Md. ; William Reid, Sept. 16, 1862, at Philadelphia, Pa.; James Shinar, Feb. 
7, 1863, at New Bern, N. C. ; Martin Stoff, Apr. 15, 1862, at Washington. D. C. ; William 
Stoff, July 18, 1863; John D. Taggart, Sept. 29, 1862, at New York City; John A. Thomp- 
son, May 15. 1862, Washington, D. C. ; John N. Thompson, May 10, 1862; Richard Walter, 
Jan. 12, 1863, at Fortress Monroe; Patton Bell, who was discharged Oct. 12, 1862, re- 
enlisted Feb. 29, 1864, and was mustered out with the Co. Helm J. McNeil, who was 



COMPANY I 97 

p.bsent, sick at Hammond General Hospital, Beaufort, N. C, when the Co. was captured, 
and was discharged on Surgt. Cert. Aug. 11, 18G4, is reported in Bales' History of Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers as having died at Andersonville, Sept. 11, 18G4, grave 8,4G9 ; the offi- 
cial cemetery record gives the number as 8,-40P. This was due, without doubt, to his name 
having been assumed by one of the North Carolina troops, who had deserted from, the 
Confederate Army. James W. Orr, who was discharged on Surg. Cert., at Baltimore, 
Md., Aug. 13, 1862, is reported as a deserter, in Bates' History. The Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania, by a unanimous vote of both houses, ordered the record to be corrected. A 
detailed history of Co. I would reveal tragedy after tragedy. Joseph S. Griffin, who was 
mustered out with the Co. saw his brother George killed at the battle of Kinston, and 
was with his brother John when he succumbed to the exposures and hardships of Ander- 
sonville. John Joseph, who died at Wilmington, N. C, after he was paroled, was a 
brother to \\'illiam Joseph, who died at Washington, D. C, July 2, 18C2, and also of New- 
ton Joseph, of Company B, killed on the picket line at Fair Oaks. This one family gave 
three lives, just entering manhood, in defense of the nation. David M. Gallaher, who died 
in Andersonville prison, w-as wounded at battle of Fair Oaks and again at battle of 
Kinston. Robert M. Seeton, who died in Andersonville, was captured on the Peninsula by 
Stuart's Cavalrj', taken to Richmond, and after a few weeks' imprisonment, exchanged. 
The records show that Co. I received but four recruits, in additional enrollment. They 
were Patton Bell, who was originally a member and discharged on Surgeon's Certificate ; 
re-enlisted Feb. 15, 18G5. Samuel Gibson enlisted April 9, 18G4. Richard West, colored, 
enlisted as Co. cook, Mar. 31, 1864; not being in uniform, he was not sent to prison, and 
at the first opportunity returned to the Regiment and was mustered out with the Co. The 
other recruits did not reach the Co. in time to be captured; they joined the detachment 
at Roanoke Island and were mustered out with the Co. Co. I was paid ofT April 5, 1864, 
thirty members receipting for pay. Sergt. William McBride, 0. P. Harris and R. M. Mc- 
Elphatrick, after signing the pay roll, erased their names, claiming they were charged 
too much for clothing; however, the matter was subsequently adjusted and they re- 
ceived their pay. Uriah Kiester left the Co., sick, July 1, 1862, and was carried on the 
rolls, for a long time, as a deserter, but returned to the company May 9, '65, and by order 
of the War Department, was honorably discharged, May 11, 1865. William Croop, de- 
serted at Plymouth, stopping with a farmer about three miles up the Roanoke river, above 
Ph'mouth; the latter tried to get rid of him, for if either Federals or Confederates found 
him on the premises, his position with either would be compromised, so he was forced 
to report Croop to the Federal authorities. First Sergeant McCoy took a file of men and 
brought him into camp ; he was court-martialed and sentenced to the Dry Tortugas for 
the remainder of his term. It was only by the strenuous exertion of Lieut. Jack Laughlin 
of Co. A that he was not sentenced to be shot; Maj. Gazzam, who was president of the 
board that tried him, urged that an example should be made of him. He was still at 
Plymouth when the Confederate attack was made ; a pardon was offered him if he would 
join the Co. at the breastworks, but he was obstinate and refused, and remained in the 
Plymouth jail until the place was captured ; he was sent to Andersonville and died there 
August 3, 1864, grave 4,682. 

Corp. John A. Kelley, one of the "boys" of Co. I — the youngest member of the Co. — 
has furnished the following interesting notes on his comrades : 

William Fielding, first lieutenant and subsequently captain, was a son of Zachariah 
Fielding, a well-to-do farmer, living near Centreville, where the captain was born; his 
mother's family name was Carr. The Fielding family consisted of four sons and four 
daughters, the captain being the third son. He was a rollicking, good natured fellow, and 
fairly popular with the company. He was unable to be on duty at the battle of Fair Oaks, 
being quite lame at the time. However, he soon recovered and remained with the Co. until 
he was detached on recruiting service in 1863. in consequence of which he escaped capture 
■with the Co. He was discharged Jan. 14, 1865, nearly a month after hi.s three years' term 
of service had expired. 

2d Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester was the son of Jesse Kiester, mother's name Sheafer. 
His father kept a country tavern at Slippery Rock. Butler County, Pa. He had a brother,. 



98 103D PEXXSYLVAXIA REGIMENT 

Jacob S., who was sergeant in the Co. and who died at Florence, S. C. Kiester was prac- 
tically the officer of the Company, and was with it continually from Camp Orr until we 
were discharged at Harrisburg. During all of this time, he was never absent from the Co. 
a day, for any cause whatever; he enjoyed good health and was always ready for duty; he 
was a very strict disciplinarian, but always fair. He was discharged at Harrisburg, July 13, 
ISo'o, with ten other survivors of the Co. Orderly Sergeant G. K. M. Crawford was pro- 
moted second lieutenant, June 23, 18b'2. Crawford was somewhat older than any of the line 
officers and consequently had more business experience than any of them and had a great 
■deal to do with the organization of the Co. He resigned July 17, 1863. 

Sergt. Jackson McCoy, promoted to first sergeant, June 28, 1862, at White Oak 
Swamp, but not commissioned second lieutenant owing to the Co. being much depleted; 
discharged at Harrisburg, July 13, 1865, with the other nine surviving members of the Co. 
Jackson McCoy was the most useful man in the Co., to the Cq. or to the Government. He 
enjoyed very good health and was always ready for duty; he was very kind in the exercise 
of his duties, particularly to the younger boys, who formed the majority of the Co. He was 
a man of fine physique, being over six feet in height and built in proportion; he was of a 
very even temperament, but insisted on every one doing his duty. A musket ball which 
entered his belt, at Kinston, came out through the buckle and, strange to relate, it did not 
hurt either his body or clothing. In looking back, I consider that there was no truer or 
better soldier wore the blue than Jackson McCoy ; he was always willing and ready to aid 
or help his comrades, and particularly while they were prisoners. He had charge of a sec- 
tion at Andersonville and also at Florence and in that capacity, he was of great aid to the 
other members of the Co. I look upon Sergt. Jackson McCoy as a good soldier, a perfect 
gentleman and one of God's noblemen. Sergt. John L. Hodil left the Co., sick, either before 
or after the battle of Fair Oaks, and was sent to the hospital in New York harbor, and' after 
his recovery, he was kept there on detached service and was discharged July 18, 1863, and 
mustered the same day, as hospital steward in the U. S. Army, from which he was dis- 
charged Oct. 28, 1865. Sergt. John C. Applegate was promoted sergeant major. May 1, 1863. 
He was not known to any members of tlie Co. before his enlistment. He walked into Camp 
Orr alone and enlisted with the Co. ; he was with Lieut. Col. Maxwell in the Fourth Cavalry, 
and enlisted in Co. I for three years, Dec, 1861, age 30. While on furlough in Dec, 1863, 
he was taken sick and did not return until June 1, 1864 ; had surgeon's certificate, which Col. 
Lehman endorsed as follows: "Owing to his uniform good character, willingness and 
promptness in performance of his duties as a soldier, it is quite evident that said absence 
without leave was unavoidable on his part"; discharged Feb. 14, '65. Sergt. James McKain 
discharged at Baltimore, Md. He had also served in the three months' service. At the date 
of the organization, he was the best drilled man in the Co. and was made drill master of 
squad drills at Camp Orr, and on that account he was made a sergeant. 

Corp. William McBride was promoted sergeant, June 23, 1862. He was away on re- 
cruiting service for some time, but joined the Co. at Plymouth in time to re-enlist. He was 
shot through the throat at the battle of Pl\Tnouth and left on the field of battle, supposed 
to be mortally wounded, but he recovered and was sent to Andersonville, and was 
paroled at Savannah, Ga., Nov. 30, 1864, and was discharged by General Order of the War 
Department, as a veteran, June 21, 1865. Corp. Andrew J. McCoy was a cousin of Jackson 
McCoy, and was also of fine frame, like his cousin, and of an even disposition. He was 
with the Co. from its organization and never absent ; he was captured and lived to get home 
and was mustered out of service, June, 1865. by order of the War Department. He re- 
enlisted. Corp. McCoy had a peculiar experience while in Confederate prison. While con- 
fined at Florence he contracted typhoid fever. In February, 1865, he was carried out of the 
stockade and placed near the railroad to be sent to the point of parole. He was too weak to 
walk and was not able to get on to the train. The train pulled out, leaving him lying beside 
the railroad. From that time he became unconscious and remained so until June, 1865. He 
was then in the general hospital at Davis Island, New York. While at Florence his toes 
were so badly frozen that amputation became necessary. Corp. John B. Porter died of 
typhoid fever' May 11, 1862, at Camp Winfield Scott. Va. Corp. John McAnallon was dis- 
charged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 17, 1862, at New Bern, N. C. Corp. William Gorman 
prornoted sergeant, Nov. 1, 1862 ; wounded at Kinston, re-enlisted, captured at Pl\Tnouth and 
died at Andersonville, Nov. 23, 1864. Sergt. Gorman was very intelligent and fairly well 
educated and was a fine specimen of young manhood. 

Corp. James Harper was detached brigade forage master, Jan. 20, 1863. He was born 
in England and had been a coal miner and local preacher. He was a good soldier, clean in 
manners and very kind to his comrades, particularly so in prison, where he did all he could 
to help the sick in the preparation of their food, when they were unable to do so them- 
selves. He died at Annapolis, Md.. Jan. 25, 1865, and is buried in the National Cemetery at 
Annapolis, grave 356. Corp. David McCoy was discharged at Bottoms Bridge, June 16, 
1862, on surgeon's certificate. Corp. Alpheus Walker was discharged on surgeon's certificate 
at Providence, R. I., April 27. 1863. Daniel Albright, drummer, left Co., sick, Aug. 7, 1862, 
discharged on' surgeon's certificate, Dec. 15, 1862. Oliver P. Harris, fifer, died at Charleston, 
S C, Oct. 6, 1864. Samuel Berringer. who enlisted at the organization of the Co., died at 



COM PAX Y I 99 

Beaufort, N. C, Dec. 14, 1863, and was buried in National Cemetery, New Bern, N. C. ; 
grave 1223, plot 7. Joseph Blakely was wounded and taken prisoner at Fair Oaks, May 31, 
1862, captured at Plymouth and paroled; died Apr. 11, 18G5, at Annapolis, Md. ; grave 1264. 
Solomon Blair discharged on surgeon's certificate, at New Bern, N. C., Alar. 23, 1863; 
wounded at battle of Ivinston. Patton Bell discharged at Philadelphia, Oct. 12, 1862 ; re- 
enlisted Feb. 15, 1865. James Colling^vood, killed at Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862. Arthur Craw- 
ford was one of the original members of the Co. and was with it all the time; re-enlisted 
and was captured at Plymouth. He took the Confederate oath of allegiance at Florence, 
S. C. 

Charles Cochran was one of the original members, and was always with the Co. ; re- 
enlisted; captured at Plymouth and died Aug. 4, 1864. Buried in National cemetery, Ander- 
sonville, grave 4729. He was a son of Squire Cochran, before whom a majority of the Co. 
were sworn into the service, at Harrisville, Pa. William H. Croop was one of the original 
members of the Co.; he died at Andersonville. James Cowan deserted Aug., 1863. Samuel 
A. Dunlap joined the Co. at Suffolk, Va., Sept. 22, 1862, and was with the Company from 
that date, captured at Plymouth and was through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence 
prisons. Paroled at Wilmington, N. C, Mar. 1, 1865, came to Annapolis, was furloughed and 
died on the way home, on board of train, at Relay House, Md., Mar. 22, 1865. Simon P. 
Duffy died at Washington, D. C, May 10, 1862, of measles. Michael Duffy, promoted Corp. 
Jan. 1, 1863, sergeant July 1, 1863 ; he was continuously with the Co. from the organization at 
Camp Orr; re-enlisted, and was one of the ten discharged at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865. 
He was captured at Plymouth and was a prisoner in Andersonville, Charleston and Florence. 
He was never absent from the Co. during the whole term of enlistment. He was a school 
teacher before enlistment and was the best educated man in the Co. Nathan E. Davis, was 
wounded at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862 ; re-enlisted Jan. 1, 1864, at Plymouth, captured there 
and served through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons. He was never absent 
from the Co. excepting about six weeks in the hospital, while recovering from a wound 
received at Fair Oaks. He was discharged by order of the War Department, June, 1865. 
James M. Davidson was discharged on surgeon's certificate, June 24, 1862. Hiram Donald- 
son was wounded at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862, promoted Corporal Aug. 25, 1863, re-enlisted 
Jan. 1, 1864, at Plymouth ; captured at Plymouth and was in Andersonville, Charleston and 
Florence prisons ; died at Florence. S. C, Jan. 25, 1864. He was a student at the Harrisville 
Academy when he enlisted. William P. Dunlap was one of the original members of the 
Co., re-enlisted Jan. 1, 1864 ; was captured at Pljonouth, and served through Andersonville, 
Charleston and Florence prisons, and was one of the ten discharged at Harrisburg, July 13, 
1865. He was never absent from the Co. ; he is still living. Thomas J. Day died of measles, 
at Washington, D. C, April 5, 1862. David Eakin was discharged at Fortress Monroe, Jan. 
7, 1863. Eakin was fifty-six years old when he enlisted, but passed in as forty-four; he was 
well preserved for a man of his years, but early succumbed to the fatigues of a soldier's life. 
James N. Elliott, drummer, re-enlisted and was through Andersonville, Charleston and Flor- 
ence prisons and was one of the ten discharged at Harrisburg, July 13. 1865. He died in 
1905, at Franklin, Pa. John Fielding was a brother of Capt. Fielding; he was discharged at 
Washington, D. C, July 7, 1862. William Gilmore was one of the original members of the 
Co.; he was on detached service near Hampton, from Sept.. 1862, to latter part of 1863; he 
joined the Co. at Plymouth, re-enlisted, and was seriously wounded at the battle of Plymouth, 
being shot in the side, the ball coming out on the other side after passing around the 
abdomen, but he soon recovered and made his escape from Danville and was one of the ten 
discharged at Harrisburg, July 13, 1865. He is still living at Mechanicsville. Pa. John 
Griffin was one of the original members of the Company, re-enlisted at Plymouth, was cap- 
tured and served through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons; was paroled and 
was one of the ten discharged at Harrisburg, July 13, 1865. He was always with the Co., 
from the time of enlistment until discharged. George W. Griffin w^as a brother of John and 
Joseph ; he was killed at Kinston, Dec. 14. 1862. John Ghost died of typhoid fever at White 
Oak Swamp, Va., June 17, 1862. David M. Gallagher was wounded at Fair Oaks, May 31, 
1862, and at Kinston Dec. 14, 1862 ; re-enlisted and captured at Plymouth ; died at Anderson- 
ville. Christopher Henderson was one of the original members of the Co., re-enlisted; was 
captured at Plymouth and served through the prisons and died at Annapolis, Mar. 16, 1865. 
Thomas C. Hackett, discharged on surgeon's certificate. Philadelphia, Nov. 19, '62. William 
Hamilton was discharged on surgeon's certificate, New Bern, Mar. 28, '63. James Hamilton 
died at Philadelphia, July 16, 1862, of typhoid fever. Oliver P. Hardy was one of the 
original members of the Company, re-enlisted, captured at Plymouth, and died in Confed- 
erate prison, Sept. 15, '64. Alexander Hilliard was one of the original members of the Co.; 
re-enlisted, captured; served in .Andersonville, and died there Jan. 13, 1865. He was never 
absent from the Co. Philip B. Hovis. No remarks. Henry Hobaugh, died at Suffolk, Va., 
Dec. 14, 1862. 

John S. Joseph was one of the original members of the Co.; re-enlisted; captured at 
Plymouth; served through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons, paroled at Wil- 
mington, N. C, in company with Comrades Samuel A. Dunlap and Jno. A. Kelley; died in 
Wilmington, N. C, fifteen' days afterward. He was a married man, and left a wife and 



100 l'-'3D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

three children. He served faithfully and was with the Co. from the date of his enlistment 
until death; he was a perfect specimen of manhood and I do not think there was a better 
soldier in the army; at the time of his death he was about twenty-seven years of age; he had 
a brother, William, in the company, who died at Washington, July 2, 1862, of typhoid fever; 
he had also a brother, Newton, in Co. B, killed on picket duty, two days before the battle of 
Fair Oaks, May 29, 1862. A. C. C. Johnston was promoted corporal in 1862; transferred to 
ambulance corps ; re-enlistcd and was captured at Plymouth ; died in Andersonville July -4, 
1864. Jacob S. Kiester was promoted corporal Sept. 1, 1862, sergeant Jan. 1, 1863 ; wounded 
Dec. 14, 1862, at Kinston ; re-enlisted and was captured, and served in Andersonville, Charles- 
ton and Florence prisons. Died in Florence, Dec. 23, 1864. He was a brother of Lieut. W. 
H. H. Kiester and his senior in age; he was a man of fair education and had taught school 
before he enlisted; he was an excellent soldier and was with the Company continuously from 
its organization until his death ; he served a short time in the hospital, from wounds re- 
ceived at Kinston. Epaphroditus Kiester was one of the original members of the Co.; re- 
enlisted and was captured ; died at Andersonville, July 20, 1864. He was a cousin of the 
Lieutenant's, and, like him, was always with the Co. until time of his death. Uriah Kiester 
left the Company, sick, July 1, 1862, and was, for a long time, carried on the roll as a de- 
serter; he took advantage of the President's amnesty proclamation, allowing those who had 
been marked deserters to return to their companies and be reinstated; he^ returned to the Co. 
May 9, 1865, and was discharged by the War Department. John A. Kelley (see notes of 
author). Samuel Kelley was discharged on surgeon's certificate, Baltimore, Md., Dec. 27, 
1862. Patrick McAnallon died of typhoid fever at Harrison's Landing, July 15, '62. James 
Perry McAnallon, discharged on surgeon's certificate. New Bern, March 28, '63. Calvin 
McCoy, killed at Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862; he was a cousin of the other four McCoys in the 
Company. 

Thomas J. McCoy was wounded at Fair Oaks ; absent at hospital about six weeks 
while recovering from wound; joined the Company after recovery, re-enlisted at Plymouth, 
captured, and served in Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons ; was paroled and 
one of the men discharged with the Company at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865. He was a 
brother of Jackson McCoy and a cousin of the other three of the same name, in the Com- 
pany. He was a fine, rugged soldier, always ready for duty and never known to be absent 
for any cause whatever, except when in hospital on account of wounds. Matthew McNess 
died at Annapolis, Md., July 23, 1862, of wounds received at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862. Sam- 
uel McNees discharged on surgeon's certificate, Washington, July 30. '62. James K. Mc- 
Cleary died at New Bern, N. C, March 7, 1863, of wounds received at Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862. 
John McGuirk was one of the original members of the Co. ;'did not re-enlist; captured at 
Plymouth and was through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons, and was dis- 
charged Apr. 13, 1865, to date Feb. 22, 1865. Francis P. McLaughlin died of typhoid fever 
at Washington, D. C, June 10, 1862. James McSorley was one of the original members of 
the Co., served in the Mexican war ; he re-enlisted and was captured at Plymouth ; he died 
in Andersonville prison; no record of date. He was a very good soldier, very punctilious, 
and took great pride in being a Mexican war veteran. James McGee re-enlisted, captured 
at Plymouth, died at Andersonville, July 28, 1864. Robert M. ]McElphatrick, re-enlisted; was 
captured at Plymouth and went through Andersonville. Charleston, and Florence prisons; 
was paroled and was one of the ten discharged at Harrisburg. July 13, 1865. He was never 
known to be away from the Co. from the time of enlistment until discharged; he enjoyed 
good health and was always ready for duty. After the war he engaged in the drilling of 
oil wells and fell from a derrick, about twenty years ago, and was killed by the fall. David- 
son McElphatrick was discharged at New York, Nov. 5, 1862, on surgeon's certificate; he 
was a brother of Robert M., and was also engaged in the drilling of oil wells and met with 
fair success. He died in the year 1907. Helm J. McGill was one of the original members of 
the Company; he did not re-enlist, and left Plymouth in the fall of 1863, and was absent 
sick, in the Hammond General Hospital, Beaufort, N. C., when the Company was captured; 
he was discharged on surgeon's certificate at Newark, N. J., Aug. 11, 1864. E. H. McDonald 
killed at Fair Oaks, May 31. 1862. John W. Miller went to hospital and never heard from 
afterward. Fowler Miller killed at Fair Oaks, May 31. 1862. James M. Maxwell died at 
Camp Winfield Scott, May 4, 1862 ; he was a brother of Lieut. Col. W. C. Maxwell. Will- 
iam Majors, re-enlisted and was captured aL Plymouth ; died at Andersonville, July 22, 
1864 ; buried at Andersonville ; grave 3793. Thomas L. Morris died at Annapolis, Md., June 
24, 1862, from wounds received at Fair Oaks, May 31. 1862. Patrick Nolan, killed at 
Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862. Francis Nutt, re-enlisted, and was captured with Co., and served 
through Andersonville, Charleston and Florence prisons; died Nov. 9. 1864, in Florence. 
James W. Orr was discharged at Baltimore. Md., on surgeon's certificate, Aug. 13, '62 
Thomas O'Connor was killed at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862. William Powers was killed at 
Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862. James Range was promoted corporal Jan. 1. 1863; re-enlisted; cap- 
tured and served through .Andersonville. Charleston and Florence prisons; died in Florence, 
Jan. 25, 1865. Samuel P. Range, re-enlisted; was mortally wounded at battle of Plymouth, 
an<! died there; his remains were subsequently interred in the National Cem., New Bern, 





JOHN A. KELLEY. 
(Corporal Co. I.) 
(Youngest soldier in Regiment to do continuous 
service througliout the war.) 



MAJ. JOHN E. KELLEY. 

(96th N. Y. Regt.) 

Killed Ma>- 29. 1S62. on picket line in advance 

of Seven Pines. 




NORVAL D. GOE. 
(Hospital Steward.) 



HON. THOMAS HAYS. 
(Corporal Co. B.) 



CORP. JOHN A. KELLEY 101 

N. C, plot 7, grave 1137. William Reid was discharged, surgeon's certificate, Sept. 16, 1862, 
at Philadelphia. David Ramsev was promoted corporal; discharged at Harrisburg, Sept. 
17, '62. 

Robert M. Seton was captured by Stuart's _ Cavalrj', and mounted on a mule and 
thrown bj' it, resulting in the fracture of several ribs ; he remained a few weeks in prison 
at Richmond, was paroled and returned to the Co., but owing to wounds he was not placed 
on active dutj' until late in the fall, at Suffolk; he was examined then by a board of sur- 
geons for discharge, but failed to pass ; he was taken sick and remained at Suffolk, when the 
brigade went to reinforce Foster in North Carolina. He did not return to the Co. for some 
time after it was at Plymouth; a few days before the capture of the Company he was de- 
tailed to build a fence around the Regimental Hospital, and while working at same he cut 
his foot very severely and was taken into the hospital, where he was when the Co. was cap- 
tured. He died at Andersonville, July 8, 1864. All the time he was in the service he never 
fired a shot at the enemy, nor the enemy at him; he was upward of forty years of age when 
he entered the service, and it is the opinion of the writer that he should never have been 
accepted, for he was out of proportion, being very tall and poorly built. David Stinedurf, re- 
enlisted, and was captured at Plymouth ; no further record. William Staff was dischagred 
on surgeon's certificate at Ph-mouth, N. C, July 23, '63. Alartin Staff was discharged on 
surgeon's certificate at Washington, D. C, April 15, '62. Milo A. Sankey died Jan. 8, 1863, 
of wounds received at Kinston, Dec. 14, 1862. Samuel Sylves died July 6, 1862, from 
wounds received at Fair Oaks, May 31. 1862. James Shiner was discharged on surgeon's 
certificate. New Bern, N. C. Feb. 7, 1863. John A. Thompson was discharged on surgeon's 
certificate at Washington. D. C, T^Iay 10, 1862. John D. Taggart was discharged on sur- 
geon's certificate at New York, Dec. 29, 1862. Paul L. Taylor, re-enlisted, captured at 
Plymouth, died in Confederate prison. John W. Thompson discharged on surgeon's cer- 
tificate; Washington, D. C. May 16, '62. Samuel A. Walker was on detached service at 
Fairfax Seminary when Company was captured; discharged Feb. 24, 1865, more than two 
months after the expiration of his term of service. Richard Walters was discharged on 
surgeon's certificate, Ft. Monroe, Jan. 12, 1863. Alex. H. Weakley was wounded at Fair 
Oaks; re-enlisted and was captured and served through Andersonville, Charleston and 
Florence prisons and died at Annapolis, Md., Dec. 24, 1864. 

At a critical period in the history of the Army of the Potomac, Company I was, 
for several days, separated from the Regiment. The day Jackson made his terrible on- 
slaught on McClellan's right wing at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862. Co. I was sent to Charles 
City Cross Roads. The following day the Regiment was ordered across White Oak 
Swamp and the Co. did not reach it until July 1, during the battle of Malvern Hill. Co. 
I held its position at Charles City Cross Roads until it was threatened on both flanks, 
maintaining its position until the enemy had succeeding in crossing White Oak Swamp, 
both above and below its position. In all the other marches, reconnoissances, skirmishes 
and battles in which the Regiment was engaged, Co. I participated, and its principal activi- 
ties are fully described in the Regimental Narrative. 

CORP. JOHN A. KELLEY. 

At the close of this narrative of the activities of Co. I is a proper place to give a 
brief biographical sketch of its youngest member; not because of his youth, but by reason 
of his meritorious record. John A. Kellej-, of Company I, was not only the youngest 
member of his company, but no comrade of his Regiment had a better record for duty. 
When he enlisted, he lacked four months and thirteen days of being fifteen, and after 
three years, six months and twenty-seven days of continuous service, when he was hon- 
orably discharged from the service, with only ten others of his original company left, he 
was then only two months and fourteen days past eighteen, the minimum age required at 
time of enlistment. A few years before his death, Capt. William Fielding, in conversa- 
tion with his brother, Frank Fielding, an attorney at law, at Clearfield, Pa., said of Corp. 
Kelley: "John Kelley was the youngest soldier in the company. He never shirked a 
duty, never asked any favors, never asked to be relieved of any duties and never missed 
a battle in which the company or Regiment was engaged.'' 

Comrade Kelley received a flesh wound at battle of Fair Oaks, but did not leave 
the Regiment. He was promoted to Corporal Aug;ist 25, 1863, when he had only passed 
his sixteenth year by three or four months. He re-enlisted as a Veteran, Jan. 1, 1864, and 
was captured with the Regiment at PhTnouth. He was a prisoner of war for ten months 
and eleven days ; was confined in Andersonville Military prison five months and a week ; 



102 in.SD PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

in Charleston, S. C, race track three weeks, and over four months at Florence. He was 
paroled Mar. 1, 1865, after which he received a furlough for thirty days, his only absence 
from the company, except as a prisoner of war, during his term of service. To this fur- 
lough he was doubly entitled, by reason of being a paroled prisoner, and by virtue of his 
re-enlistment as a veteran. He was discharged at Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 1865, with his 
company, there being only ten of the original 105 members remaining. There are many 
claimants for the honor of being the youngest soldier in the Federal Army, during the 
Civil War. In the judgment of the writer, if Comrade Kelley is not the youngest to bear 
arms continuously, from 1861, until the close of the war, no other soldier of his age can, 
at least, surpass his record for duty well performed. Comrade Kelley was born in County 
Donegal, Ireland, April 29, 1847. His father was James Kelley, his mother Katherine 
McFadden Kelley. He came to America when a mere child. When the war broke out 
he was employed in a country store in the little town of Murrinsville, Butler County, Pa. 
This small hamlet was then an important point for drovers and commercial men to meet 
farmers and people of the neighborhood. The war being the principal topic of conversa- 
tion, young Kelley took a lively interest in the discussions which he heard. In Dec, 1861, 
when Fielding and Kiester were around recruiting, they suggested to Kelley that he enlist. 
Encouraged thereby, he slipped out in advance of the other recruits and enlisted at Harris- 
ville, the next day. When he returned from the army in 1865, both his parents were dead. He 
took a short commercial course in Sheafer's Commercial Academy, at Pittsburgh, Pa., 
and in December, 1865, secured a position as commissary clerk with Charles McFadden, 
then a very prominent young railroad contractor, and was with him for some years. His 
rise was rapid from clerk to foreman and from foreman to superintendent and afterward 
a partner with his employer on some of his important contracts. He has continued in the 
contracting business entirely, ever since the close of the war and has been connected with 
some of the largest contracts in the East, with very successful results, in consequence of 
which he has amassed a comfortable fortune. He is looked upon by his business asso- 
ciates, as one of the best equipped all around contractors about Philadelphia. 

Comrade Kelley was married in February, 1876, to Katherine M. Sweazey, who was 
born in Hunterdon County, N. J. ; father Elias Sweazey, mother Charlotte Sweazey, nee 
Smith. Of this union there were four children, viz. : 

Agnes M.. now Mrs. Pedro M. Auza, of Santiago de Cuba ; Katherine Fabiana now 
Mrs. Geoige A. Bohem, John A. Jr., Charles L., Philadelphia. 

His first wife died January, 1884. He was married again on November 23, 1886, 
to Martha Ambrosia McGevern, born at Port Qinton, Pa. ; father Edward McGevern, 
mother Mary McGevern, nee Keane. Of this union there were seven children, five of 
whom are living: Mary Martha, James (deceased), Francis A. (deceased), Joseph 
Francis, Helen Mary, Edwin J., Margaret. 

Comrade Kelley is now one of the substantial citizens of Philadelphia, and is still 
actively engaged in railroad building and in the execution of large building contracts. 
When a youth, for the three years preceding his enlistment into the army, he served as 
an altar boy (acolyte) at St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church at Murrinsville, Butler 
County, Penna. In his Company were many members of the same faith, who died while 
confined in Andersonville prison, and young Kelley, zealous in the teachings inculcated in 
him in his youth, was active in seeing the last rites of the Church were given his dying 
comrades by seeking the faithful servant of the church who daily ministered to the 
suflFering and dying in Andersonville prison. In his days of prosperity Comrade Kelley 
ha? bee i faithful to his religious vows. For twenty-five years he has been a member of 
the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, of Philadelphia. The object of this society, which was 
organized in 1769, is for the relief of immigrants from Ireland. He has also been a 
member of the Catholic Club of Philadelphia for twenty years, and a life member of the 
American Catholic Historical Society for the same length of time. 

SKETCH OF COMPANY K. 

Co. K was organized in Camp Orr, chiefly from men transferred from other com- 



COMPANY K 103 

panics, after they had attained the maximum quota, and by men who came into camp to- 
enlist, with a squad recruited by David M. Spence of Pittsburgh. It was organized with 
the following officers : Capt. James Adams, transferred from Co. B ; 1st Lieut. David M. 
Spence; 2d Lieut. William B. Kroesen, transferred from Co. D. 

The total enrollment of Co. K, from the organization until it was mustered out, was 
97. When it left Camp Orr it had only 86 officers and men, one of its enrollment having 
been lost by Habeas Corpus writ, because of lack of age, and 2 had deserted. It lost in 
killed in battle, missing, and died of wounds received in action, 9, viz: John AUman, 
William Justice, Thomas Knox, John McClung, John Price, at battle of Fair Oaks; 1st 
Sergt. Joseph C Mapes, and John McClung, at battle of Kinston ; Dolphus Garrett and Titus 
Hardy at battle of Plymouth. The two latter were negro cooks, who were supposed to have 
been killed in an endeavor to escape. Quite a number of Co. K were wounded at the battle 
of Fair Oaks, among whom were Robert Sinclair, Patrick Sullivan, and Lieut. Kroesen, the 
latter leaving the service on account of being disabled by his wound. Seventeen died while 
prisoners of war or immediately after being released of disease incurred while confined in 
Southern prisons, viz: Privates, George B. Bowers, Samuel Calvin, Joseph Cox, Thomas 
Hogan, John Koch, Andrew Nelson, Hugh Richardson, Michael Sheridan, Samuel Shoop, 
William Todd, Edward W. White, who died at .Andersonville, Ga. ; James A. Courtney and 
James M. Jones at Charleston, S. C. ; William Wragg, at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., 
after being exchanged ; and Corp. Newton Stoughton, and Privates James Fitzgerald and 
Richard Riland, who were supposed to have died en route or at Florence, S. C, as they 
were never seen by comrades after leaving Andersonville. Sylvanus G. Rosansteel, who 
served with Co. K until Jan. 1, 1864, and who was transferred to Co. A, when he re-enlisted, 
died at Florence, S. C. Nine died of disease in camp or hospital and 18 were discharged 
by reasons of disability on Surgeon's certificate ; 13 were discharged by G. O. of W. D., and 
10 were mustered out with the Co. June 25, 1865, receiving their final discharge July 13, 1865, 
at Harrisburg, Pa. Those mustered out with the Co. were 1st Sergt. Daniel Krug, Sergt. 
Alex. Duncan, Musician Clarence B. Gelston, Hugh Campbell, James Denning, William 
Gardner, John W. C. McCurdy, Aaron Penny, Patrick Shea, George Stidam. Corp. Oliver 
P. Campbell, Patrick Dignan and Edward Keyser were absent on veteran furlough when 
Co. was mustered out and they were subsequently discharged to date June 25, 1365. Five 
drafted m.en were sent to Co. K before the capture of the Regiment, four of whom died in 
Andersonville prison. 

Lieut. David M. Spence of Co. K was one of the most popular officers of the Regi- 
ment. He was quiet in manner, without the least ostentation, and never got "rattled," when 
others were liable to give way to excitement. He was commissioned captain to date March 
24, 1864, but was not mustered as such when he was discharged, owing to the reduced com- 
mand. He was discharged by General Order of the War Department March 30, 1865. He 
was in the "Three Months" service, having been second sergeant of Co. A, 12th Regiment. 

Corp. Thomas Craft was absent sick at the time his company was captured. He had 
evidently left Plymouth when the fever and ague was so bad in the autumn of 1863. The 
records show that he was honorably discharged at the expiration of his three years' term. 
He was one of the "boys" of Co. K, and fearing his mother would have him discharged he 
enlisted under an assumed name. His correct name was Thomas A. Strahorn. 

He was in the service some time before his mother knew of his whereabouts, when 
he acknowledged to Capt. Adams that he assumed the name of Craft to hide his identity, 
knowing that his mother would endeavor to secure his discharge, as he was under military 
age. Several letters were received from Capt. Adams, in which he was highly spoken of 
regarding his conduct as a soldier. He was never disciplined and performed the duties of 
a soldier uncomplainingly. The last heard of him was by a letter received by his mother, 
dated New Bern, N. C, in which he stated he was in the hospital, and that he intended to 
re-enlist, and then return home on furlough. 

Although time and again effort has been made to ascertain what became of Craft 
(Strahorn). no trace of him has been made known by his comrades-in-arms or the authori- 



104 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

ties at Washington. If any one knows anything of this soldier, dead or alive, they will 
receive the heartfelt gratitude of an aged mother, who suffered heavy loss in sacrifice dur- 
ing the Civil War. 

It would cheer his aged mother to hear from any of his comrades who knew him in- 
timately. Her address is Mrs. C. A. Strahorn, Carmichaels, Greene County, Penna. The 
writer remembers Craft very well, having been on duty with him frequently, but he never 
intimated that he was serving under a false name. There was one trait he had to a marked 
degree, and that was his tidiness. In manner he was very effeminate and reticent. How- 
ever, he was a good soldier. 

LIFE IN ANDERSONVILLE AND FLORENCE PRISONS. 

The suffering in Andersonville and Florence military prisons is told in the official 
reports of the surgeons and inspector-generals of the Confederate army who witnessed it, 
and these appear in this volume. However, it will not be amiss to give a brief glimpse into 
life there as seen by comrades of the Regim.ent. Corp. R, J. Thompson, the standard- 
bearer of the Regiment, and Private R. P. Black, both of Company E, have sent the follow- 
ing brief sketches : Comrade Black says : 

We arrived at Andersonville, Ga., on the night of May 2, 1864, and were taken off the 
cars and in the direction of the prison to about on-half way towards what was to be to 
many of us our final home on this mundane sphere. We were surrounded by guards and 
allowed to make ourselves as comfortable as we could. Next morning we were up by day- 
light and after getting something to eat we were placed in line and counted off into what 
they termed detachments, which consisted of 270 men each. These were sub-divided into 
thirds of 90 each, called, first 90, second 90, and third 90 of each detachment; and these were 
again sub-divided into 30s and again into tens. My own particular sub-division was first 
ten, second thirty and first ninety of the 145th detachment. We were then taken into the 
prison where we afterwards learned that our detachments and sub-divisions were for the 
purpose of drawing rations. 

We were given a position not far from the brook and about two-thirds of the dis- 
tance from the west side on what was known as the South Side of the prison, and left to 
shift for ourselves as best we could with whatever we chanced to have that would make 
tents, beds or other accommodations. I succeeded in buying three sticks about as thick as 
my thumb, and about four or five feet long for twenty-five cents each, and with these as a 
framework we constructed a tent, with the addition of our blankets and one piece of shelter 
tent. This was my habitation during our entire stay in this inhospitable prison pen. Others 
who had no blankets had to get in with those who had, or lie and sit on the cold ground. 
The soil was a coarse greyish sand, nearly ankle deep, and plentifully mixed with lice of all 
sizes, kinds, sexes and conditions; and if one only stopped for a minute or two, he would 
have them crawling over his feet. 

The timber had all been removed long before we came, although the place had only 
been occupied as a prison a little over two months before we arrived, and wherever a tree 
stump, or root, remained, some of the old prisoners had pre-empted the spot and spent much 
time digging out any remaining parts to serve as fuel to cook the scanty rations with, or to 
sell to some one else for the same purpose. 

The sick were placed in the southeast corner of the grounds, this particular section 
being designated as "The Hospital." Any advantage gained by being an inmate, appeared 
to be only imaginary ; and often not even that, as there were no nurses, and there were few 
chances of friends being around in case of urgent need. At the southwest corner, above the 
south gate, members of the Masonic order were quartered where they were favored with 
a barracks, with a fair board roof, with bunks for beds, supplied with straw and some 
blankets. The Odd Fellows' fraternity were also favored with better quarters than were 
allowed the common herd of humanity there, but not so favorable as the Masonic fraternity; 
but still so much better than that accorded to the prisoners generally, as to make life in An- 
dersonville bearable, at least. These were the only fraternal orders that seemed to receive 
any attention from the prison authorities. 

The brook which flowed through from west to east, and which carried on its surface 
all the refuse from the cook-house ran near to our side of the swamp or flat, and on the 
other side, between the brook and foot of the hill, on the north side, was the open privy for 
all who were able to get to it, and the excrement, filth and maggots accumulated there made 
it anything but a pleasant place for us, who had to put up with the sights and smell, daily 
and nightly, almost under our very noses. The north side bank raised rather abruptly from 
the swamp at an angle of perhaps CO degrees, while our side sloped back gently, at perhaps 
not more than a ten degree angle, and the soil on the north side was a kind of hard red- 



PRISON SKLTCH 105 

pan or clay of rather a greasy nature, and while very hard to dig tunnels through, stood 
up remarkably well for that purpose as we afterwards discovered. 

On entering the prison our rations consisted of about one-fourth pound of corn pone, 
or its equivalent in cow peas, and from one to two ounces of pork or beef. 

We were required to get into ranks at 8 o'clock every morning to be counted by a 
Confederate sergeant. The ranks were mostly four deep and every man had either to be 
present or satisfactorily accounted for or his rations were stopped. We were not required 
to Ho any duty whatever, only eat what little they gave us, and sleep and visit inside the 
stockade and deadline wherever we wished. The stockade was made by digging a ditch six 
feet deep all around the ground ; then pine logs, hewed slightly, some square and others on 
two sides, and set on end in the ditch as close together as they could be placed, the logs being 
about twentv feet long, fourteen feet projected above the ground, the dirt on both sides being 
tightly tamped. Twenty feet inside of the stockade a row of posts were driven with a strip 
of wood nailed on top; this was the famous "dead line/' to cross, or attempt to cross, was 
sure death if the guard near to it felt like shooting a "Yank." 

As to government inside the prison, there was no pretense. "Might made right," and 
every one did about as he pleased, if some one stronger than he did not object at the time, 
and as neither law nor gospel prevailed, all kinds of excesses were committed, and pillage 
and robbery were committed in open daylight, and with faint chances of redress. Conditions 
grew worse rapidly until no one was safe except he was accompanied with personal friends. 
Everj'one went armed with a stout club, which was kept in a convenient place, ready for use 
even when asleep, night or day. Depredations became so common that a public meeting was 
called to form an organization to preserve order and punish culprits, commonly called 
raiders. Capt. Wirz was asked to lend his authority and assistance, which he did, by agree- 
ing to furnish guards to keep arrested criminals safe and to furnish an extra ration to those 
appointed inside the prison as police to preserve order and arrest ofifenders. A police force 
with a chief was selected and all known to be "raiders," especially those charged with mur- 
der, were soon arrested, and were kept under guard by Wirz, until a court, comprised of non- 
commissioned officers in prison, was convened. Proceedings were conducted in accordance 
with U. -S. law.s and six of these men were convicted of murder and were hanged inside 
the prison. The execution took place July 11, 1864, and was carried out by prisoners se- 
lected for that purpose in full view of the vast concourse of prison inhabitants. This sum- 
mary punishment had a wholesome effect, and the police maintained excellent order for a 
time. However, they soon began to abuse the authority given them, and in the end were 
little better than the raiders ; at least this was the condition when I left Sept. 10, 18G4. 

Our rations gradually grew worse in quality and less in quantity, until they merely 
sustained life in those with fair digestive organs, while those who were sick or with weak 
stomachs regarded them with loathing and disgust. 

Tunneling was constantly resorted to as a way of escape, but only a very few suc- 
ceeded in getting beyond the stockade, and most of these were soon brought back as man 
hunters and dogs were kept ready to follow them as soon as their escape became known. 
These attempts at escape, although preeminently the right and duty of a prisoner-of-war, 
were generally followed by severe punishment, although this depended largely on the humor 
of the captain or officer in charge. On one or two occasions men discovered at work digging 
a tunnel were rewarded with extra rations, and told to start another tunnel, but as a rule, 
men caught in the act also met with some severe punishment. 

The bodies of those who died between 8 o'clock and the same hour the following day 
were carried by the prisoners to the south gate and laid inside the "dead line." with their 
heads towards the stockade. These bodies were kept here until 7 o'clock the next day when 
they were carried to the "dead house'' near by, outside the stockade. The dead were piled 
into the wagon as though they were so much wood with legs, arms or heads protruding. 
It v.-as a common sight to see these dead bodies covered with fly blows and maggots. Be- 
fore being carried from the habitation in prison the dead bodies were stripped of every 
vestige of clothing that could be utilized by other prisoners. These articles were imme- 
diately put to use without any cleaning or washing, except possibly to remove some of the 
living vermin. Generally a piece of paper was pinned on the breast of the dead body, giving 
his name, company and regiment, and sometimes the date of his death. 

Corp. Thompson says : 

"For years 1 abstained from making any reference to my experiences in the military 
prisons of the South. This course I deemed necessary; for if I allowed myself to talk of 
my prison life during the day, I was sure to wake up at night with drops of sweat starting 
out at every pore, and if possible, feeling worse than when the dreamed-of incidents were 
a reality: and had I not forgotten them, I verily believe that I would have gone entirely 
crazy. By this process I have succeeded in forgetting a great many things, but some things 
won't down and I will relate them. 

We entered the military prison at Andersonville, Ga., May 3, 1864. We were formed 
into divisions and subdivisions for the purpose of keeping us numbered, in order to know 
what number of rations to issue, and to detect escapes. Of course, to keep anything like a 
correct tab on the number of inmates the counting of the various divisions or detachments 



106 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

had to be conducted simultaneously. If any one was found missing, rations would be with- 
held during the day, or until the missing one was accounted for. 

"Life was very insecure when we went into prison, from what were called 'raiders.' 
These were cut-throats, murderers, etc., who to escape the gallows had enlisted in the 
service, and then to escape fighting allowed themselves to be captured. In prison they 
banded together, took life, money, clothes or other valuables by virtue of their organization, 
and not that there was any great number of them. The 'Plymouth Pilgrims,' as our post 
was called, offered them great inducements, as we, by arrangement of our general when 
we were captured, were allowed to retain our money and clothes, and we had both, as we 
had just been paid four months' pay but a few days before we were captured. But by the 
kindness of old Capt. Wirz, a guard was placed over them, 12 intelligent prisoners as jurors, 
heard evidence in their cases, and on the 12th day of July, 1864, six of the raiders were 
hung. From that day on we had comparative peace in prison. The days had now got fear- 
fully hot and the lice fairly swarmed on the ground and on us My shirt only gave them 
harbor, so I discarded it. The swamp, as we called it, was alive with maggots, and at night 
they crawled over the faces of the prisoners near it. Richard Wick and Joseph Stewart, 
known to most of you, Tommy Byers and many others of our regiment had succumbed 
to this cruel treatment. The 'rebs' told us a general exchange of prisoners had been agreed 
upon, and that our transports lay off Charleston harbor to take us North, but they could not 
spare the transportation at that time for us, but would be able to do so within a few days. 
This story, with variations, was reported by the sergeant who counted us off each morning. 
I could see no 'nigger in the woodpile,' but together with the great majority of the prisoners, 
believed their story implicitly and that the 'day of jubilee' had really come. Comrade John 
Eshenbaugh of this post did not believe it and jumped off the cars the first night out of 
Andersonville. The bloodhounds interviewed him and he joined the crowd at Charleston, 
5. C. 

"We had bid adieu to Andersonville on the 10th day of September, firmly believing 
we were going to 'God's country' (as all spoke of the North). To our surprise we occu- 
pied the stockade of the fair ground or race-track at Charleston and we were guarded as 
strictly as we had been at Andersonville. Again we found Union men and women at 
Charleston and sympathy, and that, too, in a substantial form, something to eat or wear- 
was given us at every opportunity. One Sister of Charity gave me a lady's broad-brimmed 
hat. I had lost my hat on the road from Andersonville, and my shirt I had thrown away on 
account of vermin, and, all in all, I suppose she thought my appeal prompted by necessity, 
and not by any dudish aspirations. I thanked her then and I bless her still. 

"I could truthfully relate instances of cruelty at Andersonville, Charleston and 
Florence, but do not wish to call them to mind. All my recollections are far-away and 
misty, and I wish them to remain so. A soldier dying in prison with maggots crawling in 
his wounds, his ears and in his nose, is not a pleasant recollection of Andersonville, and yet 
it is a fact. He was a New York artilleryman and lay near the south gate. Recollections of 
this kind cannot be forgotten, and yet, terrible as it is, there wer^ numerous incidents and 
occurrences almost as revolting, but I will relate no more. 

"On October 2, 1864, they moved us to Florence, S. C, where a new stockade, very- 
similar to that at Andersonville, awaited us. It had been heavily timbered land and lately 
chopped off and the large timber taken for the stockade. We, being the first prisoners in 
this stockade, had the first call on the timber on top and the roots beneath. All in all, 
Florence prison was an improvement on Andersonville, and yet we lost many more in 
Florence than in Andersonville. Perhaps we had arrived at the dying point about the time 
of the change. I will relate a little incident that occurred with me while in Florence, as it 
will illustrate to what straits we were put for food. This prison, like Andersonville, was 
two-sided, separated by a swamp. Along the edges swamp water oozed out and in order 
to get it clear I had gone down about daylight in the morning. Joy of joys! I found a little 
crab (') about the size of a small sauce dish. I thought my fortune made and forthwith 
repaired to my stopping place on the hill and prepared a fire of the few roots I had dug 
out of the ground to cook it. I was too hungry to wait more than warm it through and I 
ate it, claws, shell, and all, and it was good. 

"Among my comrades who died in Florence prison was Will Dickson, who passed 
to the great beyond about December 1, 1864. He was a good soldier and man, and had he 
lived he would in all probability have donned the armor of his father in the ministry, to 
which he would have been a worthy successor. 

"My entire mess having died and Comrade John McCarrier's having met the same 
fate, he and I joined forces and occupied the same 'dugout,' or hole in the ground, until 
December 27, when I was paroled. Comrade G. M. Dufify was paroled at the same time, 
and being in somewhat better physical condition than I assisted me to reach our lines. I 
was so weak and enfeebled that I could not get on or off the cars without assistance. When 
I boarded the Confederate vessel at Charleston, which was to convey us to one waving the 
Stars and Stripes, I had to be assisted by Comrade Duffy, but when the moment came that I 
was again free to step under the flag, which had become doubly dear to us through our 



PRISON SKETCH lOT 

long separation from it. T needed no assistance. For the moment I was transformed and 
felt as though I could fly. Very many of my comrades were so debilitated they were unable 
to walk, and yet when we passed Fort Sumter and saw our vessels, with the old Star 
Spangled Banner waving over them, three as loud cheers as hearty men ever gave greeted 
the old flag. It was the last cheer for some of them. When the reaction came over the 
joy and excitement of once more being free had passed they quietly passed beyond pam and 
suf?ering, and their emaciated bodies were consigned to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean." 

PRISON ESCAPE OF ALEXANDER AND KIESTER. 

In August, 1864, most of the officers who were prisoners of war were moved to 
Charleston, S. C, at that time being bombarded by Maj. Gen. Foster. Among them were 
most of the officers of the 103d Regiment. October 5, a train load was moved from there, 
the destination being Columbia, S. C. When the train was within ten miles of Columbia, and 
running at a speed of about twelve miles an hour, Capt. Alvin H. Alexander of Co. A and 
1st Lieut. W. H. H. Kiester of Co. I dropped from the cars and for a time made their 
escape. 

They had as a companion Capt. Bascom, 5th Iowa. As they were sitting in the door- 
way of the box car with their legs hanging down, they dropped one after the other, falling 
twenty or thirty feet apart and falling in close to the ties of the railroad. It was dark and 
they would have been unobserved had it not been for a white haversack carried by Capt. 
Alexander. The guard on the rear platform of the caboose saw the haversack and fired 
at Alexander, who lay close to the ground. The bullet came so close to him as to fill his 
eyes with dirt from the point it struck the earth. Alexander and his companions remained 
prostrate until the train passed out of sight. The guard reported that he had killed a man 
with a white haversack. As soon as the train had disappeared the party started in the 
opposite direction, leaving the railroad at the first crossroad and traveled as rapidly as they 
could until daybreak. Finding a secluded spot they kept themselves concealed during the 
dav, sleeping most of the time. They started at dark and unexpectedly ran up against a 
Confederate picket at the outskirts of Columbia. Although very much startled by the 
challenge, Capt. Alexander, as if by instinct, replied, "Friends, with the countersign." Or- 
dered to advance the Captain started forward without the remotest idea of what he would 
saj'. As he neared the sentinel the word "Atlanta" flashed into his mind, and as he uttered 
it with no little trepidation, the guard responded, "All right, pass on." They did not stop 
to discuss current topics but traveled at a fast gait and did not slacken it until they had 
covered five or six miles. They endeavored to find a thick woods about daybreak and re- 
mained concealed during the day, subsisting on green corn and sweet potatoes, both of which 
they were compelled to eat raw. This mode of existing lasted for some days, resting 
through the day and traveling at night. Coming to a river one night they kept secluded 
near by the ferry until they thought everybody had gone to rest for the night. They had 
boarded the ferry boat when much to their surprise they were accosted by a negro who 
asked them if they wanted to cross the river. Receiving an affirmative answer, the negro 
said he would take them across. "I know youse Yankees running away; I've taken too 
many across here not to know 'em when I see 'em." He furthermore gave them some advice 
which was worth heeding; the substance of which was that they could always trust the field 
hands but would be betrayed by the house servants. A negro woman crossed in the same 
boat with them and their colored benefactor, learning that the party were suffering from 
hunger, interceded with the colored woman to get them plenty to eat, her home being near 
by. While she was preparing them a meal she invited them to rest and the three of them 
had no hesitation in lying down on a downy bed of feathers, and almost instantly all three 
were sound asleep— a rest they enjoyed until aroused to eat their supper. Besides giving 
them all they could of the best the humble cabin could afiford she filled their haversacks. 
There was no higgling over prices, no compensation asked, but the woman was well paid 
in Confederate money. A few nights after this Alexander and Kiester discovering a negro 
cabin near the roadside, stopped to get some food for their haversacks, Bascom continuing 
on the journey. After getting some food they followed until thew came to a cross-road, 
and there being no mark to indicate which direction Bascom had taken, they decided to con- 
tinue in the direction they had been traveling, but they failed to overtake their former 



108 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

companion. After traveling in this manner for over 200 miles Alexander and Kiester were 
finally recaptured on Sunday evening, October 16, 1864, at Rutherford, N. C. They ran 
into a picket post, and claimed to be Confederates and the guard was almost induced to let 
them go, but they had received strict orders to bring any suspiciously appearing person to 
the commanding officer; they were forced to go into his presence, who proved to be a major, 
who had seen service in the Army of Northern Virginia, and had been seriously wounded 
at the battle of Fair Oaks. When presented to the major, they put on a bold front, claim- 
ing to be Confederates. He said in reply to them, "You tell a pretty straight story, but you 
don't exactly talk like Southern men. We will get a light and take a look at you." When 
the light was brought, he found them in full Yank uniform, all but the shoulder straps, 
which they carried in their pockets. When the major learned that they had been pitted 
against him at Seven Pines, where he had been seriously wounded ifi the lungs, he gave 
them credit for his wound, but instead of showing hatred, he assumed the friendliest of 
attitudes, had the guards put them in the Masonic Hall, with orders to treat them well. He 
sent them supper and breakfast from his own table. These were the first "Yanks" in the 
town and the ladies of the town turned out eii masse to see them. They saw pretty good 
looking fellows, for both Alexander and Kiester were fine looking men ; in fact Alexander 
was the handsomest man in the Regiment, and Kiester wasn't a bad second. Both were 
tidy in dress and good disciplinarians and gentlemanly in demeanor. Certainly the ladies of 
Rutherford must have decided that the Yankees weren't bad looking, at least. The follow- 
ing day three old gray headed men constituted a guard to escort them to Morgantown, 
N. C, perhaps forty miles distant, where there was a railroad station. From Morgantown 
they were taken to Salisbury, where they remained only till the following day, when they 
were moved to Danville, Va. Here they were confined in an old tobacco warehouse for 
the winter, suffering intensely from cold weather. In February they were moved to Libby 
prison, Richmond, Va. ; were paroled on Feb. 21, 1865, arriving at Annapolis, Md., Feb. 22. 
At the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893, Capt. Alexander and Capt. Bascom met again, 
twenty-eight years after the war, and exchanged stories. Bascom was recaptured at Ashe- 
ville, N. C, but succeeded in eluding the guard and reaching the Federal lines. 

ESCAPE OF REARDON AND COMPANIONS. 

The daily monotony of life in Andersonville and Florence prisons, coupled with the 
privations of those places, inspired a large percentage of those confined there to invent 
means of escape. The Plymouth group furnished its full share towards assisting in all the 
large enterprises which had for their purpose a general escape, but small groups of the 
various Regiments captured at Plymouth were constantly planning to in some way get their 
freedom. Comrade Robert R. Reardon of Co. H, familiarly known by the comrades of the 
Regiment as "Bob" Reardon, was one of the most active, and he finally succeeded in get- 
ting outside, only to have the humiliation to be recaptured by dogs. His story is interesting, 
especially will it he to his comrades who knew him, for anything "Bob" says, they know, 
is not exaggerated. He was one of the "boys" of Co. H. 

"Immediately after our incarceration in the Andersonville stockade we began to plan 
means of escape, and I assisted in digging several tunnels. The first attempt resulted in a 
complete • failure. We had succeeded in reaching about twenty feet from our starting point 
when a heavy rain caused it to cave in, catching two men who were then at work in the 
tunnel. About July 1, nineteen of us embarked in an enterprise which we thought gave 
promise of success. In this party, besides myself, were Neiderriter and Rodgers of Co. H. 
The osensible purpose of the undertaking was the sinking of a well for drinking water. The 
site selected was about one hundred feet from the north gate. At a depth of eighteen feet 
we started a tunnel, doing the work at night ; the only utensil used in doing the work was 
the half of a canteen. The diameter of the tunnel was only large enough to permit one 
man to crawl to and fro, with here and there places wide enough for two to pass. These 
passing places were necessary, as all the excavation had to be removed by meal sacks, and 
while the dirt was being brought back another comrade could be utilizing the time filling his 
sack. The tunnel was ventilated by the one waiting at the passing place using the visor of 
his cap in fanning, thus starting a current of air. Total darkness prevailing in the tunnel it 
was impossible to continue it in a straight line, and it took a left oblique course, passing 
under tlie road between the inner and outer gates. The entire length of the tunnel when 



PRISON ESCAPE 109 

completed was 148 feet, which gradual!}' inclined from the starting point in the well, giving 
a down grade to haul back the sacks of dirt. Five weeks were required in completing this 
work. \Vhen ever\-thing was ready for the dash for liberty only those who could be abso- 
lutely trusted among the friends of those who did the work were informed of the project. 

"When the time for the break came an eager and anxious throng were awaiting their 
turn to enter, but much to their chagrin and disappointment those who had last entered the 
tunnel came hurrying back. The first man to emerge from the outer opening of the tunnel 
was captured by the patrol guard and the signal was hurriedly given to retreat. Of course 
it did not take the Confederate officials long to discover the inner terminal of the tunnel 
but they never discovered the owners. 

"Only a few days subsequent to this failure I assisted in digging a mammoth tunnel 
near the south gate for the purpose of undermining the stockade and making a wholesale 
liberation. At this time the double stockade only existed north of the ravine ; subsequently 
it was completed to the fort south of the south gate. After having the tunnel almost com- 
pleted and all the plans perfected for an attack on the stockade a traitor in our number in- 
formed the Confederate authorities of our project, and again we were doomed to disappoint- 
ment. 

"By this time Atlanta had fallen and it was almost a daily event to remove prisoners 
from Andersonville to other points in the Confederacy. When a group was taken from 
Andersonville it was generally supposed it was taken out for exchange and all sorts of 
schemes and ruses were resorted to to go with these favored yarties. I succeeded in getting 
out with one of these groups, but alas, ere long I discovered my hope of freedom was doomed 
to disappointment. The race course at Charleston, S. C, was our destination. However, 
the change was beneficial and the music of the bursting mammoth shells from Yankee guns 
did not alarm us, but inspired us with hope and courage. We were kept here for several 
weeks, when we were removed to Florence, S. C, in almost a nude condition. 

"We immediately began to devise ways and means of escape, but soon found that the 
enemy was too alert to permit of success through tunneling. Bribery of the guards was 
the only hope. I owned a good watch and getting an excellent opportunity to become ac- 
quainted with one of the guards I arranged with him to give him the watch if he would 
permit a party of us to pass out at his beat, he to furnish a rope ladder so we could make 
our exit rapidly. The fact that he furnished the ladder was evidence that he meant to keep 
faith. As many as it was safe to let into the project w-ere informed, and four others of my 
Regiment were among the number to scale the stockade between one and two o'clock on that 
cold dark wet night. Of our own boys Sergt. Daniel Krug of Co. K, Peter Klingler, Samuel 
Rupert and Daniel Huddleson of Co. H were of the party; also John Hilbert of Co. L. 
11th Penna. Cavalry. Krugg, Klingler and Rupert decided to make for the mountains of 
Tennessee, while Hilbert, Huddleson and I decided that we would make for the Atlantic 
coast, hoping to reach North Carolina. Expecting to gain some distance from the place 
of confinement, we kept moving until daylight, when we found we were marching straight 
to the prison from which we had escaped, it being in full view. We hastily about faced and 
traveled as rapidly as we could for about three miles, when we came to a deep creek. As 
we were planning to effect a crossing over this stream we were horror-stricken by the ap- 
pearance of a bloodhound. How-ever, we felt some relief when we discovered that he was 
not trailing. We kept close under the bank of the stream until the hound had passed. 
Closely following the dog was a man armed with a musket. He_ was taken by surprise and 
captured and proved to be a deserter from the 21st S. C. and after a satisfactory explana- 
tion we paroled him, allowing him to retain all of his equipment. However, he divided his 
provisions among us, equipped us with flint and tinder so we could start fires, and gave us 
information as to the various routes to take, and cautioning us against vigilance commit- 
tees, Johnston's army. etc. We moved cautiously until night, when we used the roads and 
kept moving rapidly until day approached, when we would find a secluded place and watch 
for an opportunity to interview the negroes, whom we always found anxious to reader us 
assistance and fond. 

"The fourth day out we were sighted just after dark. Bloodhounds were put on our 
track. We turned southward for the Great Pedee river, which we had crossed early that 
morning, and succeeded in reaching it before the hounds got on our trail. We swam this 
river, the current taking us dow-n several miles. We kept concealed in the canebrakes that 
night and next day. After emerging from the swamp and canebrakes we made our way 
northward but had scarcely gained an inhabited region until we were discovered and re- 
captured by a party of nine men and fifteen dogs. The dogs were well trained and sur- 
rounded us, but kept far enough distant to avoid being struck by our clubs. Being unarrr.ed 
we knew resistance was useless. The first man to come up threatened to shoot if a move 
was made and became very brave when he found his captives were unarmed, .^fter we had 
surrendered the dogs were allowed to attack us, I suffering the most, one dog catching me 
in the flesh on one side, pulling me on all fours, when another brute fastened his teeth in 
my rectum, causing me to suffer tortures. I pleaded with them to kill me and make an end 
of it, and finally they called off the brutes. Huddleson and Hilbert. although older and 



110 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

larger than I, did not suflFer so much, the enmity of both dogs and men apparently being 
centered on me. This was not lessened any when they found in my possession a crudely 
drawn plan of the country, on which they upbraided me in an ironic manner by saymg, 
'You were no doubt enticed into the army and these men gave you the map to shield them- 
selves.' After consulting among themselves I was taken aside and told that they were 
going to shoot the other two men but if I would take the oath of allegiance to the Confed- 
eracy T would be spared. I refused their proffer in an emphatic manner. I was then told 
that I must die with the others. Immediately after we were captured a blazing fire had been 
started and while the leader of the party, whose name was Johnston, was parleymg with me, 
he and two of his companions had taken me off to one side, the others remaining around the 
firc. 

"In my absence the other two had been foretold of their impending doom, and ^yhen 
we returned, Hilbert was chatting to his captors, regaling them with his exploits, entirely 
unconcerned, while Huddleson, in whose veins coursed Indian blood, sat sullen and defiant. 
When told to get ready to die Hilbert continued talking and Huddleson remained mute and 
stoical. No truer or braver soldiers ever lived than these two men, although widely differ- 
ent in riisoosition. Hoping to gain time, and break the monotony of the situation, I asked 
Johnston to give me two days' time to consider his proposition. He said, 'Then you would 
want two weeks; you shall have just fifteen minutes.' Hilbert continued talking, giving 
no evidence of any concern as to the consequences, while Huddleson never changed his 
demeanor I pleaded for an opportunity to write a parting word to my mother and exacted 
a promise from Johnston to send it to her at the first opportunity. Paper and pencil were 
furnished me and a limited time given to scrawl a final message to my mother, on reading 
which Johnston remarked, 'That is a hard message to send to a mother.' However, this 
gained time, which resulted favorably. Hilbert was chosen as the first victim. Thompson 
addressed him as follows: 

•'I suppose vou can stand and be shot without being blindfolded?" 
"Yes ; I have faced better and braver men than you are and I am not a particle afraid 
of you, but' I have one request, use a rifle and aim at my heart; don't use a shot-gun, or 

shoot at my head." , , ,• , r .u ^ 

Hilbert was placed about one hundred feet, between them and the light ot the hre. 
Our captors had taken aim, while Hilbert stood as calmly and unexcited as though rehears- 
ing for a drama on the stage. At this juncture a wounded Confederate officer, at home on 
furlough, attracted by the fire and the commotion thereabout, appeared on the scene and 
the execution was suspended. The officer inquired as to the offense of the captives and 
was told that it was an attempt to escape. He told Johnston and companions it was our 
privilege to escape and our duty as good soldiers to avail ourselves of every opportunity 
to do 'so. He ordered Johnston to send us back to prison. We were taken to his home 
and given a sumptuous breakfast with plenty of fresh sweet milk to drink. On our way 
back to Florence we met Nerval D. Goe, who had made his escape and had been recaptured. 
I remained in Florence until January, 1865, when I was taken first to Greensboro, N. C. 
thence to Danville, Va., being almost frozen to death at the former place. I was exchanged 
some time in February, on the James river, Va., but never again reached the Regiment." 

ESCAPE OF GOE, COOPER, AND OTHERS. 
Corp. Tohn F. Rupert of Co. A. describes an escape and recapture in an interesting 

•sketch, as follows : ^ ' ^ . ... -^_„_ 

"On Friday, Oct. 7, 1864, about 10 p. m., five of our Regiment, viz., N. D. Goe, R. G. 
Beegs, James Cooper, and mvself of Co. A., and George Shaffer of Co. H., succeeded in 
makmg our escape from the Florence military prison by bribing a guard by giving him a 
watch The guard's acquaintance was made by frequent talks when no one else was about. 
Goe asked him if he would let five of us out. Of course, he wanted to know what there 
would be in it for him. Goe told hirn he could give him a valuable gold watch. Crooks 
Thorn of Co. A., had an old brass watch that he had offered for sale at $12, in Confederate 
money, which Goe lost no time in securing. The guard and Goe had it arranged that we 
were to come the first rainv night that he would be on duty. When we first went into the 
Florence stockade there were a great many trees, which were immediately preempted by the 
first men to be incarcerated there, each man claiming one, which was soon felled, cut up 
and piled awav and stored on his habitation. From one of these woodpiles Goe secured a 
long forked stick by which he reached the watch to the guard, when the next guard was 
walking in another direction. . , ,, j 

"As soon as the guard got the watch, according to previous arrangements, he walked 
quickly to the other guard and held him there while we were getting over. Goe was the 
first to reach the top of the stockade, and by his assistance from there the rest of us were 
on the outside in less time than it takes to tell it. To get away from the stockade we were 
compelled to wade through mud and water at some places waist deep, for nearly a mile. 
We finally reached the edge of the swamp, and lay down at the root of some cypress trees 
and rested there until 9 p. m., Oct. 8, when we continued in the same direction we had 




3 i 



a I- 1 

_; oo — 
■3 _■ 

S Q 

iT r 



PRISON ESCAPE 111 

been traveling. We felt ourselves fortunate for we soon came to a road which by following, 
kept us in the direction we were traveling. But this was only a part of our good luck, for 
just as we struck the road, a negro, who had been working on the Florence stockade, met 
us, and directed us to a negro cabin, where we got a supper consisting of fried pork and 
sw'eet potatoes. We did not wait to eat in the negro cabin, but found a secluded place 
in a wood near by, where our supper was brought to us, a,s we were informed the enemy 
had a patrol scouring that neighborhood, and was likely to look into the cabin at any 
moment. The negro gave us directions how to avoid a picket guard of the enemy at a 
cross-road about a half mile distant, and I gave him the last of my belongings (a pocket 
book) for his services in accompanying us around this guard. 

"After traveling four or five miles we came to a swamp which we found difficult to 
cross, and coming to°the root of a large cypress tree, which afforded us sufficient space_ to 
rest, "we remained there until the sun made its appearance. We did not wait long after 
daylight until we continued on our journey. About noon we came to the Great Pedee river, 
striking it about three miles below the railroad. After a vain search for material to build 
a raft on which to cross the river, we discovered a plantation with quite a group of negro 
bouses not far from where we were hiding. We rested until darkness came. Not long 
after dusk we espied a negro passing, who was very much frightened when we hailed him, 
and we had some difficulty in holding as he was inclined to run away from us. But we 
succeeded in getting him to listen to our story, and he convinced us at once that he was 
■our friend and could be trusted to the limit. He informed us the plantation was owned by 
Elison Brown, and after the stock was fed, there would be no white person on the premises, 
as the proprietor lived some distance away and would leave as soon as the feeding was 
over. At an agreed signal we went to the negro cabins, and met a large number of negroes 
of both sexes. They gave us a cordial reception and furnished us with an abundance of hoe 
cake and baked sweet potatoes, and we then dried our clothes. When we had finished our 
supper and had made ourselves comfortable by the aid of the fires in the cabins, the negro 
guided us to the river where a canoe was hidden from view in a thicket, and ferried us 
across. We here found another three-mile swamp which we decided it would not be wise 
to attempt to cross in the darkness, so we waited until daylight. 

"Monday, Oct. 10, at daylight, we started on our journey. In crossing the three- 
mile swamp we were forced to hold up our arms to keep them out of the water. It was 
about noon before we got out of the swamp, but finding the country open we secluded our- 
selves in a thicket until darkness came. Before darkness came a negro passed bj', and we 
baited him long enough to get his promise to assist us after dark, which was promptly kept, 
and he guided us to some negro houses where we got our supper, and another guide. We 
traveled about eight miles that night, the guide accompanying us about five miles. We 
found a safe place to stop at the edge of a swamp near a church, and as the place was 
secluded, we built a fire and dried our clothes. 

"We rested on Oct. 11 until dusk, and without securmg a guide or supper we started 
on our journey traveling in a northeasterly direction. Coming to a swamp, near a planta- 
tion which we' learned belonged to a man by the name of Edward Collins. We rested till 
nearly daylight and then crossed the swamp, which brought us on Collins' plantation, but we 
did not stop until we had passed it. Finding a negro cabin and while we are waiting until 
breakfast is prepared, a man by the name of Jack Harl who had got wind of us, brought 
some Confederate cavalry and dogs and surrounded us, and there was nothing left for us 
to do but to gracefully accept the situation and again become prisoners of war. Our captors 
took us to Harl's house, where a big fire was built in the yard, so we could dry our wet 
clothes— wet from wading through the swamp. Breakfast was also given us, after which 
we were escorted to I^Iarion, S. C, nine miles distant by Sergt. Edward Collins (4th S. C. 
Cavalrv), with a squad of cavalry. When we reached Marion at 1 p. m., we were placed 
in jail'and kept there until after dark, when we were taken to the depot, and put on cars 
and were soon traveling rapidly towards the stockade from which we had flown. We 
arrived at Florence during the night, and were taken to the provost guard house where we 
remained until morning, with our hands pinioned behind our backs with handcuffs. 

"On the mornins of Oct. 13, we were taken to the provost marshal's headquarters, 
and from there to the" stockade. When we arrived at the old prison the handcuffs were 
taken off, but we were deprived of rations for several days. My shoes were worn out, 
I had no'monev, but through the generosity of Norval D. Goe, I was kept from suffering. 
Goe furnished me with money to get shoes and food. When we were finally exchanged 
and T received my pav from the government. Goe refused to accept a penny of the money 
he advanced me. I think this generous action should be recorded in the annals of the 
Regiment." 

ESCAPE OF DONAGHY AND OTHERS. 

At Macon we were marched into an enclosure called Camp Oglethorp, which con- 
tained about two and a half acres, and was surrounded by two fences. The outer one was 
built of boards and was about ten feet high, and there was a platform about three feet from 



112 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the top on the outside, and extending around its whole length, for the sentinels to walk 
upon Inside of that fence and about ten feet distant from it was a paling fence known as 
the "Dead Line" All that the title implied was meant in earnest, and if a prisoner should 
be so thoughtless as to even touch the fence the guard would be ready and willing to shoot 
him down * * * Our rations were better than we expected, and consisted of corn 
bread bacon, rice, beans and vinegar. The supply for our mess was received in bulk, and 
we took turns of a day each to serve as cook. We were not furnished with cooking utensils, 
but were allowed to buy them. Our mess purchased a cottee pot, some tin cups and plates, 
knives and forks and a "spider," which is a skillet with legs and lid. Our table was the 
floor; our fire place was out of doors. Sometimes we got meal instead of bread, and then 
we baked pones in the spider. One day we indulged in a blackberry pudding. We pur- 
chased the berries and some flour to mix with our meal. Though our cooking was done 
under diflficulties, it was no hardship compared to our washing. Every one did his own— if 
it was done at all. I had never imagined washing was such hard work, and I made a 
resolution that if I should ever have a wife I would not ask her to do our washing. How 
I have or have not kept that resolution has nothing to do with this narrative. * * * 

As the subject of escape was uppermost in our minds, and as many plans of stealing 
out had failed, it was onlv natural that the idea of combining our strength and forcing our 
way bv a coup de main should suggest itself. I was told that a secret league was formed 
for that purpose and I was invited to join it. I consented and was taken to a secluded place 
and sworn in. I bound myself to obey the officers appointed by the league without regard 
to their army rank, even to the taking the life of a comrade, should such an act be necessary 
for the general welfare. The latter clause in the obligation was made because of the behef 
that traitors in our midst had betrayed former efforts at escape. I was given the "grip" and 
other signals of recognition, but no olans of operation were disclosed. * * * The mess 
we formed when entering the prison was gradually broken up until Burke and I were all 
that were left. Chambers, being sick, had gone to the hospital outside the prison. I de- 
sired to be among the officers of our own regiment, so joined them in one of the shanties. 
Burke was not feeling very well when I left him, but to prove to him that I was not de- 
serting- him on that account, I loaned him $30, half of the money I possessed, and came back 
from "time to time to assist him with his cooking. He repaid me the money years after- 
ward * * * Late in July it was rumored that our cavalry were attempting to release the 
Andersonville prisoners, and on the 24th we could hear the distant booming of cannon, 
which told us that our forces were not far away. On the 28th "Fresh Fish ' reported that 
some of our cavalry had been at Greensburg on the Augusta railroad— a little over fifty 
miles from us. That was too near to suit our custodians, so we got orders to prepare to 
move. A division of the prisoners left that evening for Charleston by way of Savannah. I 
was anxious to be with it, for the leaders of our league were in it and it was believed that a 
revolt would be attempted on the way. * * * I went with the second division. We were 
called up at 1 o'clock in the morning, Friday, the 29th. and before daylight we were on the 
cars on the wav to Savannah. We stopped for awhile at Gordon station, about twenty 
miles out from Macon. We started again just fifteen minutes too soon, for in that brief 
space of time after we left Gen. Stoneman with his raiders struck the road, tore up the 
tracks and burned the station buildings. * * * 

When mv turn as cook came around I had occupation for the day. We received fresh 
beef every morning, and the other supplies were pretty good, and so the cook had material 
to work with. I invented a combination pone which became popular with our mess. It 
consisted of cornmeal and boiled rice, and was baked in a "spider" with a fire kept burning 
under it as well as on top of the lid. We never got any coffee from_ the rebel commissary, 
so we made a substitute out of browned rice, but it was a disappointing imitation of the 
lamented original. One dav we received some of the genuine stuff from Capt. Mackey, who 
had obtained a package from home; and that was a red letter day for our mess. Of the 
many packages put up by the relatives and kind friends of the prisoners and sent within the 
Confederate'^line by flag' of truce but a small proportion reached those for whom they were 
intended. Monev letters were rarely delivered. In my whole term of captivity I never re- 
ceived a package', money or letters, though all had been sent me from home. Letters sent by 
me reached their destination. 

On the 2d of September the chaplains and surgeons who were held with us were 
taken away to "be sent through the lines to liberty. They were a happy lot of fellows, and 
they took with them many messages for the relatives of those they left behind. They were 
not' allowed to take letters through the lines, so they simply took addresses and made 
memoranda. One of the surgeons had become demented through his captivity. A few days 
before his release I saw him sitting cross-legged for hours with his ration of fresh meat 
hanging across one of his feet. Doc. Meredith of our regiment, one of the fortunate, gave 
away his extra clothes, among them a pair of pantaloons, and the man who received them 
basely exposed to derision Doc's claim that he had no occasion to scratch. There was proof 
that he had suffered in secret like the Spartan youth who had stolen the fox. * * * On 
the r2th of September we received orders to prepare to move, and on the next morning our 



PRISOX ESCAPE 113 



whole body of 600 marched out of the enclosure on our wav to the cars for Charleston 
South Carolina. * * * Our train was on the way at nine A. M. and we enjoyed the 
autumn scenery as we sped along to the worst place we had yet been in. We arrived in the 
besieged city in the afternoon, and marched about a mile along streets that were evidently 
of the poorer portion ol the city. The buildings were in a wretched state of dilapidation 
and the people we saw there were mostly negroes. One jolly wench halloed out to us' 
Lant 1 get a husban' m dat party?" We brought up at the city jail, and \^iere turned into 
yard- -Ihere were tents there to shelter about one-third of our number but as our 
mess did not get in until they were all taken, we had to settle on the dustv ground without 
any shelter whatever. I met there Private Cross of my company, who was one of a party 
of about a dozen enlisted men lately from Andersonville. He was suffering from scurvey 
and his companions were in a terrible condition, very scantily clothed in filthy rags, emaciated' 
scurvey eaten and their skius burned brown as negroes. I learned the sad news of the 
death of ten of my brave boys: Sergeants Armago.st and Graham and Privates McPherson 
Burns, Pence, Springer, D. Anderson, Zicrl and Rueff. Ten out of thirty-three in less than 
five months. I talked with Cross about the treatment thev had at Andersonville and was 
convinced that all the horrors told of that prison were true. Adjoining the jail was the 
work-house building, and through one of its barred windows I conversed with Lieut 
Chamber, from whom I had parted at Macon. He was well. * * * 

Having no shelter or comfort of any kind, having only a certain place on the dusty 
ground to live on made life seem hardly worth living, and it affected the spirits of us all 
more or less. Lieut. Fluke in particular sat for hours at a time, with a dirty face and his 
chin resting on his clenched hands, heeding not the smoke or dust or the ra'illery of those 
of us who undertook to cheer him up. Supplies came irregularly and were insufficient • 
sometinies we were without wood with which to cook and sometimes without any food to 
cook. On the third day oi our stay Lieut. Bryson lost his pocket book containing $75 in 
greenbacks and ^96 m Coniederate money. This was a misfortune for the whole mess for 
Bryson was unselfish m the use of his money. * * * We had laid down to rest on the 
night of Oct. 4, when we were ordered to be ready to move at 4 o'clock next mornine 
Our principal preparation consisted of baking some corn griddle cakes. We we-'e moved 
at the time fixed and our style of traveling was, as usual, in freight cars, with 50 men 
crowded into each car. Our destination was Columbia, which we reached at midnight after 
a very uncomfortable ride. Our number amounted to about 1,500. Upwards of 100 slipoed 
from the cars during the night, but most of them were recaptured within the next week I 
saw no good chance to get away. We left the cars early in the morning and remained 
by the tracks near the depot, where we ate our breakfast, such as it was Our mess boiled 
seme nee, which was the only food we had. The batter cakes that we bad baked at 
Ctiarleston had been spoiled by becoming mixed with spilled ink and lard Some of the 
prisoners discovered shoulders of bacon stowed in one of the railroad buildin'^s and bv 
means of a long pole with a nail near the end of it had fished out several nie"ces of the 
meat before the guards discovered the trick. The .stolen meat was not recovered. 

The prospect of a winter in prison was anything but cheerino and 
we vvere more than ever spurred on to thinking of escape. Bryson talked' to a 
rebel soldier— a Tennesseean— who declared that he and some of his friends were goin"- to 
desert to their homes, and he promised to connive at the escape of our mess and take us 
with them. 1 hat gave us hope for awhile, but nothing came of it. One night during a 
heavy fog a few prisoners succeeded in stealing out between the sentinels, but we were 
such sound sleepers m our party that we did not know of the opportunity until it was "-one 
We lost some sleep the next night watching for a fog that did not come. That morning 
we were all formed in Ime at the side of the camp to answer the roll call, and then was 
disclosed an opportunity to revolt that, had it been expected, might have been used- the 
rebels had their guns stacked within thirty paces of us. and the guns of the battery stood 
unprotected. They could all have been seized. During the day our seniors held a council 
on the subject, but the attempt was not ordered. Even if we had succeeded in getting the 
arms the undertaking would have been extremelv hazardous, being so far within the enemy's 
country. At roll call the next day the situation was not so tempting. On the night of the 
loth several prisoners got out by bribing the guard. Capt. Alackev had a schenie of that 
kind well under way. and invited Bryson and I to join him, but Mackev deferred the move 
because the day was Friday and was "unlucky." That delay was fatal to the scheme I 
^r^ mention a remarkable experience I had that day. An' ofl^cer to whom I had loaned 
$5 at Macon repaid me and besides insisted on my accepting a loan of $10. I was unable 
to resist. Lieut. Munday was the man who thus made Friday a lucky day for me. 

Recaptured prisoners were brought in from time to time; Capt. Burke was one of 
them. He said it was worth while to go out for a change, even if one did not get through 
the hnes. Capt. Cratty, too, came back. He became exhausted and surrendered * * * In 
the woods ten miles south of Columbia. I became tired of waiting for our friendly 
rebel, and yesterday I determined to make a desperate effort to escape. I told the com- 
rades of our mess my plan. It was to run the guard. I argued that the risk wc would 



lU 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

take in rushing out between the sentinels was no greater than we had often taken in going 
into battle. Capt. Spence and Lieuts. Bryson and Smullen agreed to join me in the effort, 
so after dark we took position on the south side of the camp in a hut or shelter built of 
pine tops. We were within fifteen feet of the "dead line" and about that distance beyond 
it was the line of sentinels, posted about twenty feet apart. We watched them walk back 
and forth, dimly relieved against a background of darkness. It was an anxious moment as 
I watched to see the nearest two face from each other. When they did so it was for so 
brief a time that it was of no advantage to us, but for all that I determined to proceed, 
and gave the word, "Now," and we rwshed forward, but before we reached the "dead line" 
the word "Halt !" rang out. We did not halt, rather tried to run the faster, and we 
crossed the sentinel's line before a gun was fired. Then the shots came thick and fast and 
the whizzing balls seemed quite close. The ground we had to pass over was pretty full of 
stumps, from which a small growth of pines had been cut away. About one hundred yards 
in front of us was a wood. I tripped and fell, and so did Bryson, but we scrambled up 
and resumed running. Spence reached the woods first, but we were not far behind him. 
Smullen did not come, and we do not know if he is killed or not. Near the end of our 
exciting run my haversack fell off, and realizing that I should now be without my supplies, 
I crawled back and recovered it. By that time there was a terrible uproar in the rebel 
camp. The companies were called to "fall in" and we heard the order "Bring out the dogs." 
We hurried through the swampy woods, Bryson leading, with the stars for his guide. Be- 
fore leaving camp we bedaubed our shoes with human excrement, which is said to be 
effectual in throwing the bloodhounds off the scent. * * * 

Bryson is slightly disabled by his fall last night. He had another fall that amused 
me. We were tramping through a low, marshy place and Bryson was leading. Suddenly 
he stopped, and called out, "Here is a ditch, but I think I can jump it," and makmg a 
mighty effort, he leaped with such force that he fell down in the grass when he lighted. 
He is six feet three in height and there was a good deal of him to go down. It was like a 
tree falling, but he got up and pronounced himself "all right." I then essayed to try my 
luck as a jumper, and moved cautiously, feeling for the edge of the ditch, but could not 
find it, and was surprised to find myself standing beside Bryson, having walked all the 
way. We forgot our caution and laughed aloud, for Bryson had gone to all that trouble 
to leap over a cow path. * * * Last night was one of diflSculties. Our plan of guiding 
by the stars and avoiding the roads has proved a failure. We started last evening at dark, 
traveling northwest. At the end of two miles we came to a swamp, through which we 
attempted to pass, but almost exhausted ourselves in the effort, and then undertook to go 
back to the solid ground. That was no easy task, for we were lost. We got on hard 
ground again and then tried to go around the swamp, but the swamp was seemingly all 
around us, and we on an island within it. We were forced to await the risng of the moon, 
so lay down and slept. We got up about midnight, shivering with cold. Bryson was so 
lame he could hardly walk, and Spence was suffering with thirst. Again we missed Smullen, 
who owns a canteen, and we have none. We found our way out of the swamp, but 
wandered back and forth in search of a crossing. At last we were in despair of finding 
one, and were standing still, considering what to do, when we heard, faintly, the sound of 
trickling water ; we followed it and came to an old mill dam and a bridge, over which we 
crossed to solid ground. Spence got a drink and we found a road leading in the desired 
direction ; we also found a sweet potato patch and helped ourselves. About three A. M. we 
jnade a fire in the swamp and roasted our sweet potatoes and parched some corn, being 
•enabled to do the latter by our having with us a half of a canteen which serves as a frying 
pan or plate. At daylight we selected a good hidng place for the day. We are in a thicket 
near a stream, and only about five miles from last night's bivouac. 

We resumed our tramping shortly after dark last night. We followed a road leading 
west. We saw many houses by the way and surmised that we were in the town of Lees- 
ville. We saw some negroes on the road, but did not speak to them, believing that the 
better policy until we really needed assistance. We can steal enough to eat. After awhile 
we got on a road in our proper direction, N. W. Bryson suffered with a blistered heel, and 
took off one boot and walked several miles in that uncomfortable condition, then cut slits 
in the boot and wore it. The country becomes more hilly as we proceed. About two o'clock 
we passed through the town of Mount Willing, which is beautifully situated on the summit 
of a hill. We aroused a few dogs, but saw no persons. We went beyond the town about 
two miles and entered a pine forest, where we cooked our regular supply of sweet potatoes. 
At daylight we sought a place to hide, but the wood was destitue of underbrush, so we left 
it and followed a small brook which was but scantily shaded with trees. For want of a 
better place we are hiding among the branches and leaves of a lately fallen tree. Fields are 
on either side of us. We can hear cocks crowing and dogs barking. (Hang the dogs I 
On every raid in the future my war cry will surely be "Death to dog!") We can hear 
people talking with clearness that under the circumstances is unpleasant. I was opposed to 
stopping here, but my comrades thought we could do no better by going further, so I 
acquiesced. We are now 45 miles from Columbia and 13 miles from Chappell's Ferry on 



PRISON ESCAPE IH 

the Saluda River, just the route we laid out in our imperfect map (one made by myself) 
and Bryson has proven himself a good guide. 5 :30 P. M. We have had a pleasant day. 
Have not been molested. Will start again in about on hour. 

A little further on a negro came into the road and crossed it behind us, coughed re- 
peatedly as if to attract our attention, but we, thinking he did not know who or what we 
were, passed on without speaking. Then a negro on horseback met us and when he had 
passed, wheeled his horse, stopped and looked after us. Seeing so many people made me 
feel decidedly uneasy; I had a premonition of danger. We came to a large residence that 
stood near the road, and while we were hurrying past we were hailed by a white man in 
military garb, who advanced toward us accompanied by some negroes. He asked us who 
we were and where we were going, and knowing disguise was useless, I told him. He said 
he was a soldier and it was his duty to arrest us. R.esistance would not avail; if we acted 
like gentlemen he would treat us as such ; but go with him we must. He was armed and 
we were not, and we had learned from the experience of others that to be seen by white 
people was equivalent to capture, so I told him we would accept his hospitality, but under 
the circumstances we could hardly say we were glad to meet him. We accompanied him to 
his house, where he introduced us to his wife and daughter. A Col. Denny came in with t 
squad of rustic "home guards." Variety in their equipment seemed to have been aimed at, 
and hit, for they had sabres, pistols, show guns and what not. The Colonel expressed re- 
gret that we had not given them the fun of chasing us with the hounds. Our kind and 
ladj^-like hostess asked us if we had supped, and I told her we had eaten what we had 
been forced to consider our supper, but we could eat another one. A bed was made for us 
on the floor of the parlor. I was the first to lie down, and as I did so one of the guards 
laughed heartily, and said mj' way of going to bed was the funniest he had ever seen. What 
excited his merriment was the practice of a habit formed in prison. I usually slept on the 
flank of our mess of six as we "spooned" together under one set of blankets; and when 
going to bed, instead of turning down the covers from the head of the bed, and thereby dis- 
turbing my comrades, I would fold back longitudinally just my portion of the covers, and 
that wa<; what J did there on the parlor floor. * * * 

"We reached Newbern,- at noon ; the wagon was stopped in the public square, and the 
live 'Yanks' exhibited to the citizens. Trying to have a little fun out of our adverse circum- 
stances, I inquired of a j'oung man in the crowd, 'What hotels have you here?' as though wc 
would be allowed to select one for a stopping place, and he was innocently giving me a list 
of them when a stout, jolly fellow shook a bunch of keys at me and said 'I'll take care of 
you.' He was the town jailer. * * * When we entered the jail a crowd filled the outer 
hall and looked through the bars at us. The only inmates here besides ourselves are two 
counterfeiters who say they could be released at any time if they would enter the rebel 
army, but they prefer staying where they are. They say they have keys that enable them to 
get out and roam about at night, but they dare not help us to get out. They have a number 
of genuine passes made by rebel commanders, which they have got from soldiers traveling 
on leave and who have stopped in the jail over night. These smart thieves had copied the 
passes, kept them, and gave the copies to the soldiers. I have seen a paper which reports 
Early whipped again in the valley. 

"Oct. 29, 11 A. M. Again at Camp Sorghum. Our jailer at Newberry was not a bad 
fellow, but no doubt he thinks we were ungrateful to steal the blankets he loaned us on 
Tuesday night. We wrapped them around our bodies under our clothes, and took them with 
us as we went forth to go on the cars at Columbia. At the depot our squad was again ai\. 
object of public curiosity. I must mention hearing a remark, which it appears was a com- 
mon one for Southerners to make. A woman after staring at us for a while turned to a 
companion and said, 'They look just like we do.' Some of the women spoke to us, ex- 
pressing their sorrow at our going back to prison, and wishing us success when next we at- 
tempted to escape. Our next hotel was the Columbia jail, where we stopped and slept 
Wednesday night. Next morning we arrived here in time to breakfast with our old mess. 
Smullen is safe, having shrunk from the fiery ordeal. Our running out had caused great 
excitement among the guards, who thought for awhile that a general revolt was intended. 
Men with torches had searched the ground over which we had run, looking for our bodies. 
Then the hounds were brought out, and an attempt was made to put them on our trail. Since 
then others have run out on our plan. 

"Nov. 1. Good weather since last report. Yesterday a large mail was received and 
distributed. Of our mess Fluke alone received a letter. On Sunday night Capt. Adams and 
Lieut. Pierson of the 85th New York ran the guard and escaped. Last night an officer was 
shot while attempting to crawl out past the sentinels. His wound is not considered mortal. 
(I learned afterward that he died from his wound.) A few succeeded in getting out, among 
them was Lieut. Burroughs, whom long captivity has made crazy. Capt. Cratty has made 
arrangements with a sentinel to let six of us out tonight. The party will consist of Cratty, 
Spence, Bryson and I, and two others not yet determined upon. We are making prepara- 
tions for the journey. We worked hard today carrying wood, the guard lines having been 
extended to take in part of the forest. * * * Friday, Nov. 4, 3 P. M. In the woods 



116 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

again. At liberty but not in safety. We are about a mile from the prison camp. Yesterday 
a number of prisoners were allowed to go beyond the lines to cut wood for fuel. To secure 
that privilege they signed a parole of honor not to attempt to escape. They were permitted 
to go back and forth until they were supplied. As the guards could not remember all of 
them, about 100 who were not paroled, escaped from the camp. It was feared that the 
escape of so many would cause more stringent measures to be taken for guarding us, so a 
Yankee trick was practiced on the 'Rebs' this morning to conceal the loss. 'Roll call' con- 
sisted in forming all the prisoners in one long line, and then counting them from right to 
left. As the officer in counting passed along the men were allowed to drop out, and 100 of 
them who had been counted on the right, managed to fall in on the left and be counted again. 
Another party was paroled this morning, and Spence, Bryson and I were on the alert 
for another opportunity, but the men were not permitted to pass in and out as before. Noon 
came, and with it thoughts of dinner, and it being my turn to serve as cook, I entered upon 
my duties, and while so engaged was told that the paroled men were bringing in their wood. 
I hastily wrapped my blanket around my body under my coat, stuffed some food in my pock- 
ets, rubbed soil on my clothing and hands, that I might appear to have been working, and 
walked straight out of camp. The nearest sentinel stopped me, but I looked at him with 
affected surprise, and told him I wanted to get the balance of my wood. "Where is it?" 
asked he. "Out there," said I, moving forward as though I did not expect to be stopped; nor 
was I, but the guard muttered something about his "orders" while I walked out to the woods, 
where I found three others who had escaped. — Capt. Hobart of the 7th Wisconsin, and 
Lieuts. Fluke and Laughlin of our mess and regiment. I had been unable to see Spence and 
Bryson before I started out, but had left word for them to follow me, for I was anxious to 
have them with me. We watched and waited for them, but they did not come, and I con- 
cluded to go back into camp and tell them how to get out. I explained my purpose to a 
wood-chopping prisoner, and offered to carry a stick of wood into camp for him, and with it 
on my shoulder I approached the sentinel I had passed on my way out, but he would not let 
me pass in, and directed me to pile my wood near him, that it might be all taken at once, so 
I promised to comply. I saw my two friends looking wistfully towards me, and I made a 
slight gesture as a parting salute, and walked back to the woods, where I rejoined the others, 
and we made our way to the banks of the Saluda River. There we held a council; Capt. 
Hobart and I favored going to Tennessee, but Fluke and Laughlin were almost without shoes, 
and we could not hope to walk so far; their only chance, it seemed, was to fioat down the 
river to the coast. We were about to separate, but I did not like the idea of deserting my 
mess mates and comrades of the same regiment, so I concluded to go with them. As Hobart 
was still determined to go West, we shook hands and parted. We then found a secluded spot 
among some huge rocks, where we are awaiting night. This time our prospects seems less 
favorable than on my first venture. We have but few matches ; we have no canteen, and 
worst of all, no map of the country through which we will have to travel. Last night some 
prisoners escaped, among them were Capt. Bowers and Lieut. Brown, 101st Penna., and Lieut. 
McCall of our regiment. Today's paper reports the ram Albemarle sunk, and Plymouth re- 
captured, also that 10,000 rebel prisoners are at Savannah for exchange. .The tunnel men- 
tioned on Tuesday caved in during the late rains. Today the weather is clear. 

"Nov. 5. On the banks of the Congaree. We crept out from our hiding shortly after 
dark last night and cautiously approached the Columbia road, near the Congaree. We saw 
some pickets at the bridge, but succeeded in getting across the road unobserved, and contin- 
ued our way eastward, with the river to our left. As the night was cloudy and dark we made 
but little progress. It was so difficult to see where we were going that I walked over a bluff 
bank and rolled down about twelve feet. Luckily I was not hurt. We were soon disgusted 
with such traveling and gave it up about 10 o'clock. Then Laughlin discovered that he had 
lost the cape of his overcoat, and as he could ill afford the loss, and also because it might 
give a clue to pursuers, if we had any, he and I went back half a mile, and were fortunate 
enough to find it. We rejoined Fluke, and were soon all huddled together on a bed of leaves. 
It was our plan to travel only by night, but this morning we found it possible to walk along 
under the trees that fringe the river bank, and it is such a wild, lonely place there seems 
but little chance of meeting any one. Laughlin's shoes, which were made of cloth, were 
torn from his feet by last night's march, and he tried this morning to travel bare footed, 
but the briars so cut his feet that we had to stop. To make a substitute for shoes he tore 
up his vest, and we aided him in wrapping the pieces about his feet, tying them with 
strings made from the binding of his overcoat. While we were thus engaged we heard 
persons approaching and lost no time in hiding ourselves among some bushes. Presently 
we saw two men following the path we had come, and I recognized them as late fellow 
prisoners at Camp Sorghum. I called out to them "Surrender, Yanks." Of course they 
were startled, and not wishing to keep them in suspense, we showed ourselves, shook hands 
and became acquainted all around. They are Lieutenants Boyd and Whittemore of the 5th 
New York Cavalry, and were captured on "Wilson's Raid." They escaped from Sorghum 
yesterday. We will join fortunes. 

"Sunday, Nov. 13, four P. M. After another nap yesterday afternoon we started on 



PRISON ESCAPE 117 

a daylight ride. We came in sight of a large plantation, and landed. While we were 
lurking about near the planter's we saw a young negress coming along a lane toward us. 
One sight of me was enough, she stopped ; I beckoned to her, but she turned and fled 
toward the house. Considering the appearance I presented, it was no wonder, for, having 
no cap, I wore on my head, turban fashion, one sleeve of my bed tick shirt, which from 
much wearing had dropped off from the main body. My dress coat is burst and ripped, 
my vest almost buttonlcss, my pantaloons worn without supporters, full of patches and 
holes, and caked with mud. My overcoat has holes sewed up with white thread and holes 
not sewed at all, the cords were torn off for shoe strings, and the lining has been taken 
out to use for socks. My shoes, for which I had paid fifty dollars, Confederate, are negro 
style, strong and large. Thinking the woman would give the alarm, we hurried toward the 
river. On the way we met a small colored boy, who said that his father was the planter's 
cook and that his master and another white man were in the house. My companion ad- 
vised that we should send word for the boy's father to come to us, but cautioned him not 
to mention us to any other person. While we were waiting for him, a negro in a wood 
car came up from the river and we talked to him, but he was so dumb we could not make 
him understand. By this time we all agreed we were in danger, having spoken to so many 
people, so without knowing whether we were fleeing friends or foes, we hurried to the 
river and embarked. Before it was quite dark we tied up and went on another hunt for 
food. Two miles from the river we saw a house, and making a detour came to negro 
quarters. I crept up to one of the buildings just as a woman came out with a blazing torch 
in her hand. Not wishing to stand in its bright glare, I walked into the house before I 
spoke to her. She turned and surveyed me with a look of distrust till I uttered the magic 
words, 'I am a Yankee.' Her manner changed at once, and pushing an old arm chair before 
the fire, said. 'Sit down. Massa ; you shall have the best in the house.' She went out, promis- 
ing to soon return, and I brought in my companions. While we were waiting for her we 
could not help thinking she might betray us, but she returned, bringing with her men, 
women and children, and their friendly manner banished all doubt. ■ They gave us a 
supper of sweet potatoes and hoe cake, and I saw from the manner of baking the latter 
evidence of the origin of its name. The dough was placed on the blade of a hoe and set 
on the hearth by the wood nre to bake. Their way of roasting peanuts, which they brought 
fresh from the ground, still clinging to the roots of the plant, was to put them into an 
iron pot along with some hot coals from the fire and shake them all together for a time, 
when the contents of the pot were emptied on the hearth and the nuts picked out. 

"We were enjoying some of these nuts as a dessert and talking to our friends of 
"Massa Lincoln," when we heard a heavy step, and a white man clothed in gray came in. 
We eyed each other for a while, then he extended his hand, saying, "It's all right, 'V'anks ; 
but I tell you what, you fellows talk too loud." He introduced himself as Capt. Merrill' 
Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, and called in a companion, Lieut. Swope of the same 
regiment. They were the two officers who refused to meet us a few nights ago, because 
they thought we were disguised rebels trying to capture them. * * * By chance they came 
to the same house where we were, and hearing our voices had peeped through the cracks in 
the wall and recognized us as late fellow prisoners at "Sorghum." whence thev had escaped 
a week before we did. * * * Nov. 19, Noon. On Cedar Island. * * ' * We were 
about to start afoot to explore the island when two colored men suddenly appeared within 
speaking distance. 

"On Friday morning [Nov. 18] we looked from the upper windows of the mill and 
saw our goal — the ocean. We found some lettering in the mill which told us we were on 
'Murphy's Island.' We were about to start on foot to explore the island when two colored 
men suddenly appeared within speaking distance without our having noticed their ap- 
proach. * * * They directed us to Cedar Island, where they said we could signal the 
union vessels, and promised to feed us until we could be rescued. We laid in a supply 
of potatoes, entered our boat and paddled for the island, which was about two miles 
distant. We reached it without difficulty, and found on it several wooden cottages which 
have evidently been the summer resorts of some of the aristocracy. * * * 

"Saturday, Nov. 20 [1864], 3 P. M. Thank God! we are once more under the 'Old 
Flag.' After breakfast this morning we saw a small sail near the large ship, but the mist 
on the water became so dense that we lost sight of both vessels. An hour or so later Capt. 
Merrill reported a sail approaching the island. We ran to the beach, rekindled our fire 
and the smoke curled upwards. I tied a rag to the end of a fishing pole and from the top 
of a high stump waved it vigorously. The vessel drew gradually nearer and our hearts 
beat with hope and fear. She headed for the inlet to the north of the island. Swope and 
Boyd ran up the beach to hail her. We could now see the ensign at the top of her sail, but 
could not make it out. She tacked and shifted about for some time, and finally anchored in 
the stream. We gathered up such articles as we desired to take with us and ran along the 
shore toward the vessel. I cannot describe my feelings when I recognized the 'Stars and 
Stripes.' The tears ran down my cheeks; I tried to cheer, but could not make a sound. 
As we came up we saw that Boyd and Swope had been taken aboard. A sailor with a 



118 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

canoe ferried the rest of us to the vessel, which proved to be the sloop Anna, commanded 
by Ensign Willard, and is used as a scouting boat for the sloop of war Canandaigua — the 
ship we had seen. I could hardly realize that I was at liberty once more and safe under 
the 'old flag' ; there was a lingering suspicion in my mind that our rescuers might be 
rebels in disguise. I looked closely at their uniforms, scanned the devices on their buttons, 
but when the hospitable board was spread for us, and we were furnished with salt 
mackerel, pork, hard tack and a 'clincher' in the way of genuine coffee, my doubts were 
all dispelled. Our first inquiry was as to the result of the presidential election. * * * 
We were given complete new suits of sailor clothes and we doffed our rags and threw them 
with their tenants — our late traveling companions — into the sea. 

"We messed with the officers and our treatment was all that could be desired or 
expected. On the 23d we were sent in the sloop on our way to Charleston harbor, where 
we arrived about midnight. * * * On the Canandaigua we saw the record of a party 
of eight that preceded us; among them was my friend Capt. Burke of the 16th Connecticut. 
After daylight the sloop ran inside the bar at Charleston and we were taken aboard the 
man of war John Adams, where we breakfasted with the officers. * * * Next day we 
embarked on the steamer Pontiac for Port Royal. While there we were taken aboard the 
flagship and presented to Admiral Dahlgren, who listened to our story and questioned us 
as to any word we might have heard regarding Sherman. * * * We went north on the 
steamer Fulton, arriving at New York December 30. 

■'Lieuts. Fluke and Laughlin, with whom we parted on the Congaree, were unfor- 
tunate. Their raft went to pieces and had to be abandoned. They got possession of a 
boat, and when they were passing under one of the railroad bridges, were seen by the 
guard and fired upon, a bullet slightly wounding Fluke on the nose. Laughlin, thinking that 
his friend was more seriously hurt, turned the boat to shore and surrendered. The bridge 
guards kept them in their custody several days, not having an opportunity to send them 
to prison. One night the whole guard squad got drunk and their prisoners escaped, and 
were at large for about a week, when they fell into the hands of another party of the 
enemy, and, as they had no insignia or proof of their rank as officers, were sent to prison 
for enlisted men at Florence, S. C, where they remained all winter. 

"And now comes the saddest item in all my story. Of the 33 enlisted men of my 
company who were captured at Plymouth — the men who had stood all the service of our 
three years and to whom I had become attached as though they were of my own family — 
but nine of them lived to reach their homes. The others left their bones at Andersonville." 

COLOR BEARER ROBERT J. THOMPSON. 

Corp. Robert J. Thompson of Co. E, who was the color bearer of the Regiment from 
December 14, 1862 (when Sergt. Spangler was killed bearing the colors aloft), until the 
Regiment was captured, is deserving of special mention in the annals of the Regiment. 
When the standard of the Regiment dropped as Sergt. Spangler fell, another of the color 
guard picked it up, but finding it a magnet for the missiles of the enemy he dropped it and 
again took his musket. Thompson, who was one of the color guard, immediately grasped 
the standard and kept it waving at a point where the fire of the enemy was most concen- 
trated. From that time on he bore the colors, until they were sent north in the spring of 
1864 to have the names of battles lettered on it. Corp. Thompson was born Oct. 9, 1843, in 
West Sunbury and received his education in the public schools and the West Sunbury Acad- 
emy. The colors being away Thompson made good use of a musket at the battle of 
Plymouth. He was captured with the Regiment at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864, and was 
a prisoner of war at Andersonville and Florence until Dec. 10, 1864. He was discharged 
from the service April 14, 1865, to date Dec. 17, 1864. 

On his return home from the army he attended the West Sunbury Academy one year, 
taught school two years, married and went to Iowa, where he taught school one year, and 
for a time was a student of law under W. G. Thompson, now for several terms judge. He 
returned to his native State and engaged in the oil business of Greece City, remaining there 
until 1888, when he returned to West Sunbury. During Harrison's administration he served 
as postmaster of West Sunbury. In 1896 he was elected prothonotary of Butler County 
and served three years. Comrade Thompson resides at 323 Elm St., Butler. He has six 
children living: Angelina (Mrs. E. J. Roberts, Spokane, Wash.); Earl D. Thompson, 
Spokane, Wash.; Marion (Mrs. J. R. Eberhardt, Green River, Wyoming) ; Harriet J. (Mrs. 
H. L. Moore, Lima, O.) ; Carl S. Thompson, Butler, Pa.; Alice (Mrs. Cliarles Amy, Butler, 
Pa.). 

Corp. Thompson had the honor of bearing the colors on the Fourth day of July, 1866, 



HON. THOMAS HAYS 119 

in the City of Philadelphia, where they were returned to the custody of the State. While 
a permanent invalid at this writing (1910), Comrade Thompson is exceptionally clear in 
memory, his intellect seemingly but slightly affected by his ailment. The writer can attest 
with knowledge of the facts that "Bob"' Thompson was a good soldier. 

HON. THOMAS HAYS. 

Hon. Thomas Hays was born in Sugar Creek Township, Armstrong County, Penna., 
Jan. 19, 1840. His school education was attained in the public schools of his native State, 
which he attended until the year before he enlisted. In the fall of 1861 he had engaged 
to teach at Van Buren, Washington Township, Armstrong County. He had secured a 
boarding place for the winter and was returning home when he ran across Capt. Joseph 
Rodgers, then on a recruiting tour, and was induced to enroll in Rodgers' Company. 
Com. Hays was thoughtful enough to send his resignation as teacher to the school di- 
rectors ; but inadvertently neglected to cancel his boarding engagement. Forty-seven 
years later he was a candidate for the nomination of State Senator on the Republican 
ticket, his district embracing the Van Buren school district. During his canvass for votes 
for the Senatorial nomination Hays, when he entered the neighborhood where he in- 
tended making his debut as a pedagogue, remembered that he had engaged boarding, and 
decided that it would be good politics for him to call and tender his apology for not keep- 
ing his engagement. He learned from the lady of the house, who was still living there, 
that her children, consisting of several grown sons, were scattered in various parts of 
the count}'. Carefully securing the addresses of all, he called on each one, told the 
story of engaging board and its sequel. This was a clincher, for he not only had the 
votes of these men on primary day but each one was an enthusiastic worker, notwith- 
standing Hays is a resident of another county and his chief antagonist for the nomina- 
tion was a citizen of Armstrong County. This little incident, and the politic manner in 
which it was manipulated by Comrade Hays, was no little factor in deciding the nomination in his 
favor. 

Comrade Hays participated with the Regiment in all its engagements and recon- 
noissances on the Peninsula. While the Regiment lay at Suffolk, in November, 18(52, he 
was transferred to Battery L, Fourth U. S. Artillery, and served with it until the ex- 
piration of his term of enlistment, and was honorably discharged from the service Nov. 
13, 1864. While on duty with the battery he was called upon to do strenuous service at 
the siege of Suffolk, at Yorktown, Petersburg, Cold Harbor and before Richmond. 

Comrade Hays married Miss Kizzie J. Foster, a former schoolmate, on Dec. 21, 
1865. They resided on a farm in Fairview Township from 1867 to 1877, when they 
moved to Fairview, Butler County. Since 1895 they have resided in Butler, retaining 
their Fairview home as a summer residence. As a business man Comrade Hays has been 
quite successful. He is one of the original stockholders and directors of the Farmers' 
National Bank of Butler, owns several farms, the Waverly Hotel of Butler, and is iden- 
tified with numerous other business enterprises, being actively engaged in the oil business 
for the past ten years. 

Since his return from the army Comrade Hays has taken an active part in Re- 
publican politics. In 1902 he was elected to the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1904. 
After a two years' rest he was elected to the State Senate from the 41st Senatorial Dis- 
trict, embracing the Counties of Armstrong and Butler. As this is a four years' term 
he has a couple of years yet to serve. 

Comrade Hays has not only been active in politics, but he has always been promi- 
nently identified with civic and religious affairs. He is an elder in the Presbyterian 
Church and can always be counted on to throw his influence on the side of righteousness. 

As a school girl Mrs. Hays assisted in making a flag which was presented to Co. B, 
and which was carried through Andersonville prison. The unique history of this flag, 
which will be preserved in Memorial Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa., is told at another place in this 
volume. A reproduction of the flag and a portrait of Mrs. Hays also appears on another 
page of this volume. Of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hays, four are living: Mrs. 



120 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Jennie L. Thomas, Evans City, Pa. ; Christopher I. Hays, near Chicora, Pa. ; Robert N. 
Hays, near Karns City, Pa., and Mrs. Maude B. Cowden, Butler, Pa. 

HOW PLYMOUTH WAS RECAPTURED. 

Sergt. S. M. Evans, collaborator in compiling this volume, was personally acquainted 
with the most heroic figure of the war — Lieut. William Barker Cushing, of the United 
States Navy. He, in a small way, had a part in Lieut. Cushing's enterprise, which again 
gave the Federal army control of the eastern counties of North Carolina. While the navy 
recaptured Plymouth, the 103d Regim-ent was the first representatives of the army to reach 
Plymouth, a detachment under Sergt. John A. Gwinn, of Co. C, being the first to get ashore, 
with the first expedition of soldiers to arrive at Plymouth, after it had been abandoned by 
the enemy. The writer, in his youthful days, was wont to boast because he was the first 
soldier to land at Plymouth, after its recapture, and the first to board the sunken ram 
Albemarle. The fact that he refers to it here, is evidence that he has a lingering pride in 
such a trivial event, but that is due to the fact that it was connected with one event of the 
war that will never be forgotten — the heroism displayed in the destruction of the Albe- 
marle. Sergt. Evans supplements a personal reference to Lieut. Cushing, by a concise 
account of this heroic event in the following terms: 

"My recollections at or about the time the Regiment was captured, and during the 
time Plymouth was held by the enemy, was of an interesting character, because of -my 
official relations with the large number of refugees from the captured town, both white 
and colored, some of them the families of men in the navy, natives of North Carolina. 
Shortly after Company C arrived at Roanoke Island, January 3, 1864, I was detailed for 
duty at headquarters, and assigned to the quartermaster's department. My duties at first 
were limited to looking after some wood choppers and some lumbermen taking out tim- 
bers for an extension to the pier, which, owing to the shallowness of the water, extended 
quite a distance into Croatan Sound. However, I was soon put in charge of the store room, 
having practically full control of all unissued camp and garrison equipage, and a small 
army of colored employes, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, harness-makers, stevedores, 
common laborers, etc. The entire industrial machinery of the Island was centered in the 
quartermaster's department. T was given a free hand to recommend for assistants such 
men as I needed and at the quartermaster's request they were immediately detailed and re- 
ported to me for duty. In a little while I had affairs systematized so that 1 had great 
freedom and considerable leisure. To conduct the business of the Island required a large 
number of teams, and among the animals were some very fine riding horses. These were 
all under my direction, even the quartermaster, when wanting a horse coming to me for it. 
No one was permitted, by his orders, to take anvthing from my department without con- 
sulting me. As he was under a heavy bond for the proper care of this property, his 
authority was supreme, and as he had clothed me with the care of it, he gave himself no 
further trouble looking after my department. 

■'When an officer, army or naval, wished to take a ride or drive over the Island, the 
quartermaster would send him to me, always making a polite request, 'if it were possible,' 
to accommodate the applicant. Although only an enlisted man, my position soon put me on 
a very friendly footing with the officers, not only those connected with the army, but also 
with "the naval officers belonging to the fleet operating in the waters in eastern North 
Carolina. In this way I formed the acquaintance of one, whom I regard as the most 
heroic figure of the war, Lieut. W. B. ,Cushing. This volume has related in detail the 
battle and fall of Plymouth, and described the part the iron-clad ram Albermarle played in 
capturing the field and staff, and nine companies of the Regiment. Without the aid of this 
vessel the position at Plymouth would have been impregnable against the force under Gen. 
Hoke. Therefore, the lives of two hundred of the Regiment were ended by the success of 
this armored vessel. This alone, if for no other reason, makes it fitting and proper to 
tell how it was destroyed in the annals of the Regiment. 

"Besides making it possible for the Confederate land forces to compel the Federal 
garrison to surrender on April 20, 1864, the ram was a perpetual menace to the fleet, and 
to the other garrisons in eastern North Carolina. Two weeks and a day after the down- 
fall of Plymouth, the Albemarle, accompanied by two small steamers, the Cotton Plant and 
Bombshell (the latter having been sunk and captured at the battle of Plymouth) made its 
appearance in Albemarle Sound, steaming slowly down the sound in the direction of the 
fleet, then consisting of eight gunboats, as follows: Miami, Ceres, Commodore Hull. Sey- 
mour, Mattabesett, Sassacus, I'Vyalusing and Whitehead. The engagement began at 4 :40 
P. M., the Albemarle firing the first gun, the first shot destroying the launch of the Matta- 




COMMANDER WILLIAM B. GUSHING. 



LIEUT. W. B. GUSHING 121 

besett and wounding several men. The engagement continued until about 7 :30, the ram 
retiring up the Roanoke river, the fleet capturing the Bombshell and crew. 

"In the report of this engagement, the Commander of the fleet described the Albe- 
marle as follows: 'The ram is certainly very formidable. He is fast for that class of 
vessel, making from 6 to 7 knots, turns quickly, and is armed with heavy guns, as is proved 
by the 100-pounder Brooke projectile that entered and lodged in the Mattahesett, and 100- 
pounded Whitworth shot received by the IVyalusing, while the shot fired at him were seen 
to strike fire upon the casemates and hull, flying upward and falling in the water without 
having any perceptible effect upon the vessel.' 

"While the ram was forced to retire, the damage done to the fleet was considerable, 
and apprehensions were general that as soon as repairs were made and defects remedied 
on the ram, that it would attempt to clean out the eastern waters of North Carolina of all 
wooden gunboats. These apprehensions were not allayed as time passed and the ram 
remained apparently quiet. As Roanoke Island was the first Federal post the ram would 
meet and the armament of the forts Insignificant and old-fashioned, the approach of the 
ram was regarded with more or less dread. The garrison would have anticipated with 
pleasure a visit, if the equipment of the forts had been modern and heavy. As it was, 
the smooth-bore 32-pounders with which the forts were equipped, would have been of little 
more use than pop-guns against such a formidable battleship. 

"It was not long after the encounter between the ram and the fleet, that on going 
out on the pier one afternoon I ran across Lieut. Cushing, although I did not recognize him 
until I came very close to him, he was so changed in appearance to what I had been accus- 
tomed to see him; in fact, he looked "tough," as though he had been on a prolonged spree 
and was just recuperating. His clothes were torn and muddy, and I ejaculated, as he 
spoke to me: 'Lieutenant, you look like you had been in the woods!' He replied, lacon- 
ically, 'That's where I've been;' but volunteered nothing further. Later, I learned that 
he had been in the woods and swamps opposite Plymouth for nearly two weeks, getting 
the position of the ram, and the conditions generally surrounding it, and the defenses 
on the Roanoke river. Ehiring the last week of October, 1864, Isaac M. Quinn of the 16th 
Connecticut, then on duty in the quartermaster's department, came hurriedly into my office 
exclaiming in a gleeful manner, 'The ram will be sunk sure now!' I asked him to explain 
himself. The only reply he gave me was 'Lieut. Cushing is out on the pier.' I immediately 
started out to see what caused Quinn so much merriment. On my way out I met Capt. 
Cooke, the quarter-master, who informed me that Lieut. Cushing was there and wanted a 
torpedo pole. I went on to the end of the pier and saw the Lieutenant, his little boat lying 
alongside. The launch, as I remember it, was open, no part of it being decked, but with 
a canvas awning stretched from either end to serve as a protection from the sun's rays, 
the little engine entirely exposed. I had not the remotest suspicion of the mission of the 
boat, surmising it was intended for picket duty. I returned to my office, and gave instruc- 
tions to have a torpedo pole (a small straight pine tree trimmed of its branches) sent out 
to the pier. On going to the store room I found Lieut. Cushing inquiring for some ar- 
ticles which had come some days previously in care of the quartermaster's department. 
Among these were two small sheet iron tanks or drums, about 12 inches in diameter and 
36 inches in length. In less than 48 hours the astounding and gladdening news came to the 
Island that Cushing, with his little vessel and a volunteer crew. from the fleet, had sunk 
the Alhemnrle. A.s this was the most hazardous feat accomplished during the Civil War, 
and its intimate connection with my own Regiment, I think a brief account of Lieut. Cush- 
ing's perilous, but successful enterprise should be given space in the annals of the Regi- 
ment. Especially so, as it was by his daring enterprise, with a force of twenty men, Ply- 
mouth, which had cost the Confederates so much to gain, was recaptured. 

"On July 9, 1864, Lieut. Cushing wrote to Acting Rear Admiral Lee, then commanding 
the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, that he deemed the capture or destruction of the 
ram Albemarle feasible, that he was acquainted with the waters held by her, and that he 
was willing to undertake the task, and if detailed for the work he would like to superin- 
tend the outfit of the boats. In submitting Cushing's proposition to the Secretary of the 
Navy, Admiral Lee commended him highly for his gallantry, and he was given authority 
to superintend the necessary outfit for the destruction of the Albemarle, which was done 
at the Brooklyn navy yard. In preparing for his hazardous enterprise Lieut. Cushing 
selected two boats. They were open launches, about thirty feet in length, with small engines, 
propelled by a screw. A 12-pound howitzer was fitted to the bow of each. One of these' 
boats was lost en route from New York to Norfolk. When Lieut. Cushing reached the 
naval fleet anchored about fifty miles from Roanoke Island he completed his crew by vol- 
unteers from the various vessels, but without informing of the object of the expedition, 
further than that it would be a perilous one. He had his choice of the sailors, as practically 
all volunteered to go. With a total crew, including the commanding oflficer and his subal- 
terns, of fourteen, accompanied by the second cutter of the gunboat Shamrock, with a crew 
of two officers and eleven men, towed by the launch Cushing, ascended the Roanoke River 
on the night of October 27, 1864, a dark, rainy night. A. mile below Plymouth lay the 



122 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

sunken Southfield with a channel only 25 or 30 yards wide between it and the shore on the 
Plymouth side. He succeeded in passing the pickets and even the Southfield, on which there 
was a picket post, and was not discovered until he came within hailing distance of the Albe- 
marle. The latter was surrounded by a boom of logs, about 30 feet distant from her sides. 
Gushing from the first had some hopes of catching the crew of the ram by surprise, board- 
ing and capturing it; but when the alarm was given, he ordered the cutter to return. The 
enemy opened fire on the launch after repeatedly hailing it and getting no answer. As 
Gushing got his launch ready to dash over the boom of logs fairly, the enemy keepmg up 
a steady fire on him, which was returned by grape and canister from the 12-pounder on the 
launch, he called out, "Leave the ram, or I'll blow you to pieces !" Putting on full steam, 
and having gone back far enough to get sufficient headway to jump the log boom, he suc- 
cessfully went forward, the torpedo boom was lowered, and Gushing himself exploded, but 
none too soon, for almost simultaneously with its explosion, a shot from the ram went 
crashing through the launch, completely knocking it out of service. 

"Twice the enemy demanded his surrender, when within fifteen feet range of the 
ram. but he refused; but removing his coat and shoes, he jumped into the water, swam to 
the middle of the river, and finally succeeded in landing on the Plymouth side, so completely 
exhausted that, when he reached the shore, he attempted to rise ; but at the first step forward, 
fell and remained Iving half in mud and water unable even to crawl on hands and knees. 
When he became able to realize where he was he found himself in close proximity to the 
enemy's intrenchments, and he hastily secluded himself in some rushes that were at the 
edge of a swamp below the town. Below the town he discovered a f^at-bottom boat fastened 
to the root of a cypress tree. On the bank within a few feet of the boat was a picket squad 
of seven men. Lying in a position where he could observe their movements, he waited until 
thev moved back to eat, when he slipped into the stream, swam quietly to the boat, unfastened 
it and floated with it, until out of danger of being seen, when he got in and paddled to the 
m'outh of the Roanoke, and after paddling for two hours in the sound he discovered the 
picket-boat Valley Citv. As he hailed her, with his 'Ship ahoy!' he fell powerless to the 
bottom of his boat, and lay there until he was picked up by a boat from_ the Valley City. 
Three davs later Plymouth was evacuated by the Gonfederates, a feeble resistance only being 
made to the fire of the gunboats. The navy took possession of the town November 1, 1864." 

REPUBLISHED DIARY. 
Diary of Marches of Wessells' Brig-\de. Published During the War. 

Author Unknown. 
(From March 28, 1862, to December 31, 1863.) 

The following diary giving in chronological order the marches and principal events 
in which Wessells' brigade participated during the first two years of its service was the 
property of Gonrad Petsinger, Go. B, 103d Penna. Regiment, and before his death, was 
handed to his son, H. W. Petsinger, of Pittsburgh, Pa., along with a flag that possesses an 
unique history. 

A large detachment of Go. B, 103d Regiment, came from Sugar Greek Township, 
Armstrong Gounty, and among this group were the teacher, James M. Garson, and several 
pupils of the Blaney School, situated about 12 miles northwest of Kittanning. Shortly 
after this detachment reached the rendezvous camp (Gamp Orr, Kittanning, Pa.), the 
young ladies of the school made a flag and presented it to Go. B. This flag was made by 
hand, and when the flag was presented to the Gompany, the pupils of the school and their 
parents brought their wagons and buggies loaded with eatables and served the company 
with an excellent dinner. The flag was put in the care of the former teacher, Gorp. J. M. 
Garson, who died in Andersonville prison. When Plymouth was captured, Gorp. Garson 
concealed the flag around his body and carried it to Andersonville, where it was buried for 
safekeeping. Before his death, Garson entrusted it to Gonrad Petzinger, who, when paroled, 
concealed it around his body and brought it to his home. A cut of the flag appears in this 
volume. 

The author of the diary is unknown. It was published in pamphlet form, and the 
copy in the possession cf Petsinger was minus the front cover, which evidently gave the 
name of thi author. It is reproduced here exactly as it appeared in the pamphlet, without 
any elimination, addition or editorial change. 
March. 1862. 



REPUBLISHED DIARY 123 

28. Left Washington City, and marched to Alexandria, Va., a distance of ten miles. 

29th. Marched about two miles from Alexandria and pitch our tents. 

30th. March back to the city, and went on board steam boats for the night. 

31st. Started for Fort Monroe on board the boats. 

April 1st. Passed the Mount Vernon estate, on the banks of the Potomac; arrived 
in the Chesapeake Bay. 

2d. Landed at Fortress Monroe, and encamped at some Cavalry barracks for the 
night. Part of the Brigade landed at Newport News, on the James River. 

3d. Marched through Hampton city, which was burnt by the Rebels at the com- 
mencement of the war; only a few houses were standing. Arrived at Newport News about 
5 p. m. and encamped. 

16th. Left Newport News and marched towards Yorktown and passed by Warwick 
Court House, which is quite a small place containing about half a dozen houses. The court 
house is a very small building and one of the oldest in the U. S. The weather was very 
warm and a large number of overcoats, blankets, etc., were thrown away on this march, of 
about 20 miles, and encamped at night with another part of the army in some pine woods. 

17th. Marched to camp Winfield Scott a short distance from Yorktown, could hear 
the firing there quite plain ; this camp was situated among some young pines, was very 
marshy and wet, and a large number of the troops suffered from sickness. We remained 
here until the 3d of May, during which time we were chiefly employed at road making, for 
the land on the Peninsula is most all sand and swamp with here and there a mud hole for 
variety. We improved these roads by falling pine logs across them and thus making them 
corduroy roads, but the ground was so sandy and wet, and all the provisions for the army 
being transported over them, they were soon invisible in places. There was scarcely a stone 
to be seen here or on the whole Peninsula and the water we had to drink was very much 
the same as that in swamps, and sometimes had to drink the swamp water itself, almost 
as black as ink. During the time we were at this camp we were called up in line of battle 
once or twice every night, in expectation of being attacked from Yorktown, for at night 
the most firing seemed to be done. 

May 3d. The Rebels evacuated Yorktown. 

4th. The Brigade was ordered with one day's rations in pursuit and marched to a 
large fort of the Rebels, near Yorktown ; halted a short time, then marched forward about 
3 miles and encamped for the night. We had brought no clothing except what we chanced 
to have on, as we expected to return again night, so we built fires and lay down by them 
till morning, when it began to rain. 

5th. Was wet from morning till night. The roads were cut up and muddy beyond 
description, for during the past 24 hours the whole Rebel army and most of our own had 
passed over them. Commenced marching early in the morning and soon heard the roar of 
cannon in advance, occasionally passed a broken-down army wagon, a dead horse, or a 
cannon or two stuck fast in the mud which was about knee deep. About 3 o'clock p. m. we 
went into a large field near Williamsburg and had the satisfaction of being shelled by the 
rebels till dark without a chance of returning the compliment, for so many of our own men 
were in our front that we could not fire without danger to them. As night fell firing ceased 
on both sides and a more miserable night than the one succeeding the battle of Williamsburg 
was not spent by us during the whole campaign, for we were wet through, had lived three 
days on one day's rations, had no blankets or overcoats to keep us warm, and dare not light 
a fire for fear of being shelled. After remaining in this position about two hours orders 
were given to light fires and shortly after beef was issued to the troops — it was some we 
had captured that day from the rebels, but it tasted of garlic bad enough to poison a French- 
man, and although we were hungry enough to eat a roasted dog we could not eat this, so 
there was nothing to do but wait till morning. To sleep was impossible, as it rained con- 
tinually. 

6th. Remained near the battle field all day while men were sent back to bring rations 
for the army on the pack mules, the roads being impassable for wagons, and never were 
"hard tacks" more thankfully received; they had been selling the night before at "two for 
5 cents" and this morning could not be had at any price. 

7th. Marched through the battle-field and saw men and horses lying dead in all 
directions, nearly all appeared to have been killed by rifle shots as very little artillery was 
used on account of the difficulty of bringing heavy guns into position. Our cavalry brought 
in several prisoners and a large number of contrabrands. The latter seemed very much 
pleased at being among the "yankees" but were rather astonished that we had no horns on 
our heads, as '"massa" had told them. 

10th. Left Williamsburg and marched 9 miles, the roads still very muddy, and passed 
several cannon that were spiked and left behind by the rebels. The part of country we 
encamped in at night seemed more fertile than any we had yet seen on the Peninsula, and 
Gen. Casey's Division seems to have been the first that marched that road as the negroes 
said we were the first soldiers they had seen. We remained at this camp until the 13th, 
when we were marched 12 miles and encamped near New Kent Court-house. We were 



124 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

seventeen hours on this march on account of the bad condition of the roads, and passed 
several spiked cannons and broken down rebel army wagons. 

Next day, the 14th, we were sent on picket near New Kent and remained till the 17th, 
during which time it rained almost continually. The land around here was the same flat, 
sandy, swampy, sickly, muddy looking country that we had seen since landing at Ft. Monroe. 

17th. Marched 9 miles in direction of Chickahomany River. In these marches we 
sometimes passed by a fine looking house and plantation, but for one of these we saw twenty 
little huts belonging to the poor whiles. These huts would be in the pine woods where the 
owner had cleared from 1 to 3 acres of land planted with corn and sweet potatoes, and 
looked as we passed, with his family around him, the picture of misery and ragedness. This 
night we encamped at a placed called the White House, the residence of Gen. Lee, then in 
the rebel army but not the Commander-in-Chief. We encamped here until the 19th, during 
which time most of us received our knapsacks which had been left at Yorktown. Until now 
we had been standing the weather without any shelter. 

19th. After marching 13 miles we encamped in a place unto which I believe no name 
was ever given, and did picket duty until the 21st, and then marched to within a short 
distance of the Chickahomany River. 

22d. Gen. Casey's Division crossed the Chickahomany and encamped at Fair Oaks, 
and went at throwing up breastworks and forts and slashing timber in our front. Our camp 
was situated in a clearing of several hundred acres surrounded by pine woods (with a road 
running through to Richmond) in which our pickets and the rebels were stationed a short 
distance from each other. Each of Gen. Casey's Brigades erected their own fortifications, 
and were commanded by Brigadier-Generals Negley, Wessells, and Palmer. Gen. Wessels 
had been lately appointed commander of the 2d Brigade in place of Gen. Keirru 

On Saturday, the 31st, Casey's Division fought the battle of Fair Oaks, and as every 
soldier sees the battle different from the next, owing to the place he stood, and is confident 
that the way he saw it is right, I shall leave each to tell his own story and have his opinion. 
Each of Gen. Wessells' Regiments lost about 100 men, killed and wounded, and the loss of 
the Division was 1,500. The battle continued nearly 3 hours. The rebels were commanded 
by Gen. Longstreet, and estimated to be from 30,000 to 40,000 strong while Gen. Casey had 
not t),000 men fit for duty when the engagement commenced. The night after the battle 
marched back about 2 miles, and having lost all our camp baggage and clothing (except 
what we wore in battle) had to try to sleep as best we could without them, in the rain. All 
night troops marched past us towards Fair Oaks. 

Next morning, June 1st, the cannons began to roar in the .direction of our old battle 
ground and were succeeded by musketry as the troops got to close quarters. The engage- 
ment lasted all morning and ended by the rebels being driven back to the front of Richmond, 
with a loss, in the 2 days' fighting, of 10,000 men killed and wounded, according to their 
estimate. 

Although our former position was now unoccupied by the enemy we never more 
encamped there, but remained at Savage station until the oth, when we marched back to 
White Oak Swamp, but owing to the several days' rain the roads were almost knee deep 
with mud, and having to wade through three streams of water more than 3 feet deep we 
arrived at the place we were to encamp wet through, had to blankets or tents, and not one 
in twenty had a change of clothing. Our camp was situated in the pine woods where we 
remained, in the same condition in which we arrived, until the 10th, when we received a 
new supply, but very many of the men had died from exposure and many more were sick. 
We worked most every day at slashing timber, throwing up breastworks or doing picket 
duty. 

25th. The seven days' battles commenced today, and were fought as follows : 25th, 
Mechanicsville ; 26th, Peach Orchard; 27th, Savage Station; 28th, Aliens Field; 29th, White 
Oak Swamp; 30th, Glen Dale; 1st, Malvern Hill. 

28th. Evacuated White Oak Swamp and crossing a branch of the Chickahomany 
encamped 3 miles from it. 

29th. Commenced our march towards James River, while out of each regiment one 
or more companies accompanied by a squad of cavalry and some artillery were sent on 
picket to guard the different fords in direction of Long Bridge and had several skirmishes 
with the enemy. One company of the 96th N. Y. was surrounded and taken prisoners, while 
the others after severe marching joined their regiments at Malvern Hill, where the whole 
"Army of the Potomac" was stationed; Gen. McClellan's headquarters being at a farm 
house on the James River. 

July 1st. About noon the battle of Malvern Hill commenced, and ended at dark by 
the enemy being driven back with heavy loss, while the gunboats threw shells after them 
at intervals through the night. After the battle we marched towards Harrison's Landing 
but the mud was very deep and the roads much cut up by wagons and artillery. Remained 
on picket all night as we expected the rebels to advance but all was quiet. 

2d. We marched nearer to the Landing, the roads still very muddy, and went on 
picket at night. 





Corp. Thomas J. McKee 
Co. C 



Sergt. John A. Gwinn. 
.{Co. C) 



.Fired the first shot on Union side at battle of (The best "'^^ured man in the Regiment, and a 
Fair Oaks.) ■=""" buiuiei.^ 








BARRACKS OF CO. C. ROANOKE ISLAND. N. C. 
Capt. Cochran's headquarters on the right. Flag in the background in Fort Foster. 



REPUBLISHED DIARY 125 

3d. Remained on picket till dark and then marched into Harrison"? Landing. Such 
a scene as the roads and fields presented from about a mile to the Landing is but seldom 
seen, even in war; wagons stuck fast in the mud and set en nre, barrels of beef, pork, rice, 
cofifee, etc., cut up and the contents strewed around, while everywhere there seemed to be 
dead mules and horses (some had drowned in the mud and those that stuck fast had been 
killed), and every kind of army tent had been thrown upon the road and tramped into the 
mud until they were invisible. 

4th. Today was our first at Harrison's Landing and we were inspected by Gen. 
McClellan, but what he saw of us except mud is hard to say. Each regiment cheered him 
loudly, as he came to them, for (in spite of the late retreat) he was the most popular general 
in the army with the soldiers. 

8th. We were inspected by President Lincoln. 

Harrison's Landing was a natural fortification, being an elevated tract of land about 
7 miles in circumference and surrounded by swamps on the land side and the James River on 
the other. We fortified the place till it was considered impregnable on the land side, and 
the gun boats protected the other. 

14th. The whole army was paid at the same time, for two months, and the Sutlers 
had a fine time at money-making as the following was about their prices : Butter 60 cents, 
cheese 40c, eggs 75c, lib. loaf bread 25c, and everything in proportion, and Sutlers' tents were 
crowded from morning till night, Sundays not excepted. 

The weather was now very warm and we drilled each day, often had division drill. 
Gen. Peck being our Division Commander (in place of Gen. Casey who resigned shortly 
after the battle of Fair Oaks) would drill us on the double-quick on the very hottest days, 
and in every drill several men would fall down exhausted, and by the time the drill was 
over the others were but little better. It was very easy for an officer on horseback to give 
the order to double-quick, but for the men to do it with tight belts and heavy guns was a 
different affair. WTiile here we went on picket, threw up breastworks, and drilled nearly 
every day, and in this way passed the long summer days while on the Peninsula. 

August 16th. Our knapsacks being put on board a boat we started in light marching 
order towards Fort Monroe, a distance of about 60 miles, and march 17, near the bank of 
the James River. The weather was fine but too hot for marching, as a great dust is always 
raised by an army in motion. Though everything was carefully guarded when we advanced, 
now scarcely anything was, and everything in the shape of fruit, vegetables, etc., was con- 
sidered public property. The corn was just getting ripe and when we came to a field of it 
there was a general "pitch in" for roasting ears, which we would cook at our next halting 
place. The field we encamped in this night was about 100 acres of corn and by morning 
was worthless to its owner, the ears having been roasted and the stalks cut down to sleep 
upon, and such was generally the fate of cornfields on that march. 

17th. Commenced marching at daylight, passed through Charles City, and crossed the 
Chickahomany on pontoon bridges. This river is a mere stream 10 miles from its mouth, 
but the swamps it ran through made it difficult to cross. Water was very scarce on this 
march and dust very plentiful (almost suffocating), and hung on the trees and bushes by 
the roadside not far unlike snow. Gen. McClellan and staff passed us today. Me marched 
26 miles, and were 13 hours on the road. 

18th. Passed through Williamsburg, which before the war had a population of 1,600 
or 1,800, but most of the citizens had taken their "black jewels" and fled before we took 
possession. We passed over the old battle ground, and a few trees cut by the shells (and 
scattered graves over which the grass had grown) was all that remained of the great 
struggle. Having marched today 16 miles we encamped, and remained the next day. 

20th. Passed through Yorktown, on the banks of the York River, which contained 
only a few houses and they very old. The land around is broken and irregular, affording 
splendid fortifications for besieged forces. In the town is a small stone monument upon 
the spot where Cornwallis surrendered his sword to Washington, and some of the fortifica- 
tions thrown up at that time are yet in existence. We marched a short distance from the 
town and encamped for a few days. 

24th. Left Yorktown and marched to Fort Monroe, to arrive at which after living 
4 months on the Peninsula seemed like coming out of a wilderness into a second land of 
Canaan. While on the Peninsula there was nothing but government rations and such things 
as the sutlers carried with them, and many had not tasted a loaf of bread from leaving till 
returning to this place. It was pork, coffee and crackers ; crackers, coffee and pork, the 
whole time, and we were well tired of it. 

Fort Monroe is a great market for all kinds of fruit, etc., and provisions are as 
cheap as at Washington city. Our knapsacks which we had placed on the boat were sunk 
in the James River and were the third ones for some of us to lose, and though lost by no 
fault of ours were changed to our account and cost some of us four months' wages. Re- 
mained here nearly a month and were allowed to recruit up some, as we were pretty well 
worn out when we arrived. We drilled often enough, but as Gen. Peck's headquarters were 
at Yorktown, and he could not operate upon us personally, we were drilled reasonably. 



126 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

September 18th. Left Fort Monroe by water and went to Norfolk, and from there 
by cars to Suffolk. The land between the latter two places is chiefly swamp — the Dismal 
Swamp. Upon our arrival we found ourselves again under command of Gen. Peck, and 
were at once put to drill, and to dig rifie pits and forts. 

23d. Started at 5 p. m., with three days' rations, on a reconnoissance to Blackwatcr, 
and marched all night. The roads were very sandy, and we occasionally came to a mud 
hole which we had to cross in single file on a board or fallen tree, which delayed us very 
much. By daylight we were at a church two miles beyond Carrsville (19 miles from 
Sutfolk), where we ate our breakfast and then marched to the banks of the Blackwater, 
opposite Franklin. The enemy's pickets retreated before us and crossed the river, artillery 
firing was kept up nearly two hours ; then we fell back a short distance, made a flank move- 
ment to the left, and attempted to cross at another point. The rebels had sharpshooters on 
the opposite bank and several of our men were wounded — our artillery was then brought 
up and fired for some time. We then marched back to Carrsville, early next morning 
threw a few more shells at them, and returned to Suffolk, which we reached on the 26th. 
On this march everything in the shape of poultry, etc., was considered as belonging to the 
first to catch them, and the way in which our boys hunted up drinkables would have done 
credit to a detective police officer. Our time here was spent much in this manner: Went 
on picket at 9 a. m., would be relieved next day at that hour, and would return to camp, 
clean our guns, and do what we pleased for the remainder of the day unless Brigade or 
Division drill was ordered; and next morning there would be fatigue or camp guard, and 
a. fellow was considered lucky if he was not put on one of these. Picket duty was the 
hardest of any, as the picket line was situated in a thick pine wood and we had no shelter 
to go under if it rained or to sleep in at night, nor were fires allowed to be kept burning 
after dark as it showed the enemy our position and guerrillas could creep up and shoot us 
by the light. Generally four men were stationed at a post with orders for two to stand 
guard while the others slept, and relieve each other during the night; to keep a bright look 
out for the "'officer of the day," salute him if he came in the day, but if at night to make him 
"dismount, advance and give the countersign." Instructions were to shoot everything of a 
suspicious looking character, outside the line, and this order was the cause of "sudden 
death" to many sheep, hogs and steers, of the Southern Confederacy, that were enjoying a 
night ramble; and converted them into steak. 

We had to form a line of battle every morning before daybreak and stand so an 
hour or more, till our hands were nearly froze to the guns. We could never see the use of 
doing thus, and the opinions expressed about it (and about a certain man, then high in 
command), were very amusing, especially if the morning was extra cold. 

During the month of October we went to Blackwater twice, with a few regiments, 
and upon returning others would be in motion for the same place; and though some of 
these expeditions had heavy skirmishing and others did nothing the object of causing the 
"rebs" to keep a large force there was accomplished. 

Nov. 7th. Snow fell a few mches deep, remaining but a short time, and the only 
snow we saw this winter. 

17th. At 4 p. m. Gen. Wessells' Brigade, and most of the other troops, started on 
an expedition to Blackwater, taking along two pontoon bridges to cross the river on; and, 
march all night, came in sight of the river on the morning of the 18th, when we commenced 
shelling the rebels from its banks, and part of the forces were sent lower down to throw 
the pontoons across and move over, but only a few crossed before the bridge broke and (the 
other pontoon being too short) we were compelled to return to Suffolk without doing any- 
thing more, and this was our last visit to Blackwater. 

Dec. 5th. Our brigade left for North Carolina, but it rained all day and the mud 
was about knee deep ; the country was low and sandy, and we were very tired at night — 
having marched 23 miles. 

6th. Was as muddy as its predecessor (if possible, a little more), but there was 
nothing to do but march through it, and enquire of every darkey how far it was to Gates- 
ville? and their answer invariably was "Right smart of a distance, sah!" whether 20 miles 
or 2. In the afternoon we arrived at Gatesville, quite a small village, and encamped for 
the night. 

7th. Marched 2V^ miles and went on board boats on the Chowan River, proceeded 
down Albemarle Sound, past Roanoke Island, up Neuse River and landed at Newbern on 
the 10th. but had scarcely got on shore when we were ordered to cook three days' rations 
and prepare for marching. 

11th. Began to march, towards Kinston. through turpentine farms, and sometimes 
passed cleared farms, but they, "like angel's visits," were "few and far between." The dis- 
tance marched today estimated at 16 miles. 

12th. On the march all day, but as we went first in one direction and then in another 
the distance accomplished was not ascertained. The 3d N. Y. Cavalry brought in about 
a dozen prisoners. 



REPUBLISHED DIARY 127 

ISth Cautiously moved forward, had a skirmish, artillery fired almost continually, 
and encamped at night near enough to the rebels to hear them speakmg to each other. Our 
pkket" and theirs were but a short distance apart, and we expected a battle at daybreak 

14th Battle of Kinston took place, and was the greatest battle ever fought m North 
Carolina. With the exception of Wessells' Brigade the troops most engaged were Massa- 
chusetts Regiments; the 9th N. J. and lOth Conn, also taking an active part. Of the brigade 
the regimenT most ;ngaged was' the 103d Penna. They charged upon the enemy and drove 
them back at several pSints, but lost upwards of 80 men killed and wounded. The Both 
^2d and 96th N. Y. and the 85th and 101st Penna. Regiments were also engaged but their 
W was not so hea%^' The entire loss of the brigade was 140 killed and wounded. The 
enemy was drWenbSk a all points, and lost 600 prisoners and a large quantity of stores, 
fn t7e Tfternoon we entered Kinston, a very pretty town, and by the appearance of hings 
we were verv unexpected visitors. Quite many of the citizens were still there but the 
majority had' fled ■ many of the stores seemed as if just deserted, everything being left 
Snd even to th^ money in the drawers; tobacco was here in great quantities and was 
appropriated by the boys without much question as to its former owner; and a large lot 
of clothine for the rebel army was also captured here . 

We this day lost Colonel Gray, of the 96th N. Y. V. His regiment was the first to 
arrive at the bridge which the rebels had crossed and set on fire Several old muskets were 
?eft to burn with It, and one of them exploding shot him dead; he was qmte a young officer 
and verv much respected by the whole brigade. , , , j r- i^.k„^^ n. 

15th Recrossed the Neuse, burnt the bridge, and marched towards Goldsboro. De- 
pending chiefly upon the country through which we passed for our supplies men were sent 
oSto capture all the hogs, sheep and cattle they could find withm five miles of us. 

16th Battle of Whitehall was fought; commencmg early in the morning it was 
continued till evening, when the enemy was driven back with much loss to Goldsboro. 

17th Battle of Goldsboro, in which the enemy were again defeated, and driven across 
the Neuse" River into the town. We then burnt the bridge and tore up the railroad track. 
Towards evening their forces, under Gen. Pettigrew, come out to attack us again, but, after 
rsharp engagem^ent, were driven back with heavy loss. The object of .the expedition being 
Accomplished we marched back 8 miles, which with the 8 we advanced in the morning made 
for the dav a total of 16 miles. , ..... ^ ,, 

18th. Having marched 20 miles we encamped, at nearly midnight, m a cornfield near 

^"^^"gth. Passed Kinston and encamped 6 miles from it on a different road from that 
•we advanced on. 

20th Arrived within 14 miles of Newbern. j xt u jo 

21st Returned to Newbern, crossed the Trent Rjver, and encamped. Newbern is 
situated upon the confluence of Neuse and Trent Rivers, and betore the war exported large 
ouan itiesTturpentme, rosin, etc., and contained about 7.000 inhabitants, very few of whom 
Sow remain (their "secesh" proclivities having procured them a conveyance beyond our 
lin«) It is one of the most ancient towns in the state, but has but few fine buildings, and 

^'^ ^¥eWrr7/l86§,' wal%'ay% in camp and "Uncle. Sam" professed to/pay four 
months' pay of the seven due, but upon stepping up to receive our greenbacks we were 
SfSrmed that the knapsacks lost (at the battle of Fair Oaks and White Oak Swamp and 
by Goveirment transportation from Harrison's Landing) must be paid for by us^^ and 
amounted to about $45 each man. which left us on the average $< for four months w^ges. 
March 7th. An expedition (consisting of the 101st and 103 Penna^Vols. and a Com- 
nanv of the ;)d N. Y Cav.) was sent into Hyde county, to break up a band of guerrillas. We 
fancfed on th; 9th at Swan Quarter, a small village near the coast marched 14 miles on he 
north skie of Mattimaskeet Lake, burnt up the guerrilla captain's house, and took all the 
horses that were of any value to serve in our cavalry instead of in that of the rebels The 
coui"y was the riches we had yet seen in the southern states, and. considering hat most 
of he work was done by slaves, was very well cultivated. We encamped at night opposite 
?ome deserted breastworks of the rebels, and havmg captured large quantities of hams 
chkkens etc during the day, began cooking them. All the pots, pans and kettles of the 
ne ghborhood were pressed into service, and many who lost ^he^r chickens were obliged to 
lend their utensils to cook them in, which must have been very pleasant to the feelings of 

^^"^ "^WriJ^rl aroused about midnight by firing at the picket line, but it turned out to be 
caused by an old one-eyed man whom we took prisoner and carried to Newbern. 

Hil storv was thaJ he and his son had been out to shoot bears, that they knew nothing 
of our being there, until they were fired into by our pickets, and that his son had got nght 
smart of scared" and had "skiddaddled," lea%nng his gun behind . this might all be tnie 
but it is most likely that the "bear" they were after was one of Uncle Sams two-legged 

10th. Early in the morning we cooked and eat the remainder of our chickens and 



ones. 



128 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

then continued our onward march. Every man and horse we found was taken along — the 
horse for his usefulness, and the man to keep him out of mischief. We captured about 50 
prisoners today, and a more boney, lank, lantern-jawed set could scarcely be found, and 
we took so many horses, mules, oxen, carts, carriages, etc., that we were almost all mounted 
Infantry. Negroes, with all the goods they could collect, left "ole massa" to come with us; 
sometimes in whole families, with the "picaninnies" strapped to their backs, and most of 
the captured ox-carts were given to the women and children to ride in. It rained all day 
and the roads were very muddy, but this was a slight annoyance for we were wet through, 
and muddy as possible, so we splashed along without any regard to either, knowing we were 
as bad off as we could be — a kind of philosophy soldiers are often brought to believe in. 
Distance marched today was 15 miles. 

11th. Onward still, and a better country than this for forage could not be found, and 
certainly none of the "starvation of the South*' was known here, for this was a "land of 
milk and honey," though there was no way for us to get the latter but by lifting the hive 
and taking it out with the bayonet, and the way the bees came out and stung made the 
"darkies" turn up the whites of their eyes, for they were often put to the work. 

We passed the plantation of Judge Donald, one of the largest slave owners in that 
section. He formerly owned 600, and had 400 at this time but a large number followed 
us, and many carts and oxen were pressed into service from this place. At night we reached 
Swan Quarter, with about 80 prisoners and 150 horses and oxen which we had taken, having 
marched 26 miles, and remained till the 13th. 

13th. Our prisoners had to either take the oath to Uncle Sam or go to Newbern as 
prisoners ; most of them took it and were turned loose, but the most suspicious were taken 
to Newbern, with the one-eyed man already mentioned. We now embarked on the boat, 
and took along the most valuable of our captured property. 

14th. Arrived at Newbern and went to our old camp. 

April 4th. Went on an expedition towards Little Washington, for the purpose of 
breaking the blockade and relieving Gen. Foster, who, with a small force, was hemmed in 
by the rebels. 

5th. Arriving in Pamlico River towards night we saw a rebel battery on the left 
bank, our gun-boats opened fire upon it which was immediately returned and kept up for 
about two hours when the battery ceased firing, some of our men then landed and found 
it deserted ; other batteries were further down the river but our force was too small to 
proceed so we put back for Newbern, where we arrived on the 7th. 

During our absence the rebels attacked Fort Anderson with a determination to take 
it, but the garrison within, the 92d N. Y. Vols., were fully determined to hold it. The tents 
inside were riddled and the fort sustained considerable damage, so the rebels ceased to 
fire and sent in for a surrender but the Colonel was too old a soldier to see it in that light 
and sent word to that effect. The rebels again opened fire, but soon bursting their biggest 
gun gave up the attempt. 

7th. After dark we were taken across the Neuse, to attempt to reach Little Wash- 
ington by land; our force consisting of 15 regiments of infantry, 3d N. Y. Cavalry and a 
battery or two of artillery. 

8th. Began to move early in the morning, Gen. Spinola commanding, through a tur- 
pentine farm country. These seem to be the most miserable kind of farms in the world, 
for the pine woods are dark and gloomy, the houses are miserable buildings and in places 
miles away from other dwellings, and very few of the people can read or write. The roads 
were bad as usual and after marching over them 14 miles, through mud-holes, etc., we 
encamped for the night. 

9th. Before any order was given to get up, or cook breakfast, we heard "fall in!" 
and in we fell and marched forward. It was a pretty general opinion throughout the 
brigade, the day before, that Gen. S. knew but very little and today the boys concluded that 
he knew nothing at all. About noon we came upon the enemy's pickets near Swift (or 
Blount) Creek, and drove them back. Artillery firing was kept up on both sides for about 
and hour and we had several men killed and wounded, and we expected the order to advance 
but "Retreat !" was what we heard. When marching back we passed our "Leader" in the 
same place where we left him when we advanced, which was about a mile back of the 
position where the firing took place. We have had some hard marches since joining the 
army but, in point of time, this beat all, as we marched 9 miles in two hours and the mud 
in some places was knee deep. We had not been allowed time to cook either breakfast or 
dinner and the report was that the rebels were following close in our rear, but in spite of 
this and all orders to keep in ranks some of the boys would fall out to make a cup of 
coffee. The fires they made would spread and ignite the rosin and turpentine on the pines, 
the flames running quickly to the highest branches, and from these to other trees till the 
whole forest seemed on fire, and sometimes the burning trees would fall with a crash upon 
the road we had just passed over. We were very tired when we halted at night, having 
marched 30 miles and not eat anything. So much for the generalship of Gen. S. 



REPUBLISHED DIARY 129 

10th. Passed New Hope school house and arrived at Newbern, having inarched 11 
miles. 

, 18th. Again on the road, for Little Washington, under command of Gen. Wessells. 
We marched from Fort Anderson shortly after daybreak, and finding upon our arrival at 
Swift Creek that the enemy had abandoned their position here we encamped for the night, 
25 miles from Newbern. 

19th. Captured some half a dozen prisoners and encamped at night near Wash-i 
ington. 

20th. Marched through Washington, a pretty little town, built on some rising land 
near Tar River. The siege had caused some suffering, from want of provisions, and the 
niggers came to us begging for hard tack. 

We stopped around the town till next day, when we went into Fort Washington 
and remained until the 26th and then started on our return to Newbern. During our stay 
at Washington all citizens had to take the oath to the United States or go over the lines 
to "Jeff." 

27th. Returned to Newbern and remained 8 days. 

May 5th. Left on board steamboats. 

6th. Arrived in PK-mouth, N. C. It was taken possession of by our troops nearly 
at the commencement of the war, but on the morning of the 10th of December, 1862, the 
rebels drove in our pickets and came into the town with infantry, artillery, and cavalry, 
occupied the place long enough to burn and destroy the largest and finest portion of the 
town and then evacuated it. Its former population was about 2,000 white and black. It is 
situated near the mouth of the Roanoke river and was a place of some importance, but 
now its glory has departed. Plymouth is one of the most sickly places in which we have- 
yet encamped, — scarcely a man in the whole Brigade escaped the fever and ague during 
the summer and fall of 1868, and though abated at this time still it finds a victim occasionally. 

July 5th. Four regiments of the brigade went on an expedition to Williamston ; two- 
by way of Gardner's bridge, and two by way of the river on the gun-boats. After working 
our way up the Roanoke all night we were but 12 miles from Plymouth by morning and 
had 20 more to go. This river is the crookedest to be met with, and we were constantly- 
running into the banks in attempting to turn the bends. The land along the river is mostly 
low and swampy, and owing to a freshet was then covered with water. About once in 
4 miles was as often as we saw a habitation of any kind, but passed one large plantation 
where the negroes came to the river bank clapping their hands and singing, while the 
juvenile darkies stood upon their heads. Most of these slaves seemed to be women and 
children, the men having probably escaped into our lines or been sent into the interior for 
safety. 

6th. In the evening we came in sight of Williamston on the left of the river, and 
it seemed to be a pretty village. Some few rebel soldiers were visible and shells were 
thrown at them, but they soon got out of sight. 

Time was given for the citizens to remove out of the bombardment and at 9 p. m. 
the gunboats opened their fire upon the town, and we saw the shells go crashing and 
bursting through the houses, which were soon on fire ; still the boats poured in their shells, 
firing about 15 guns every 6 minutes. We expected the "rebs" to return the fire but they 
did not, and it soon became evident that the Chivalry had fled. One gun every 5 minutes 
was fired till morning, when we landed and marched up to the town but found no enemy. 

7th. Returned to Plymouth. 

26th. Marched to Gardner's Bridge. 

27th. Proceeded to Foster's Mills, burnt them and returned as far as Jamcston at 
night. Very wet da}'. 

28th. Returned to Plymouth, but as it rained continually mud and water was rather 
too plentiful. 

Small expeditions have since been sent out. containing detailed men from their 
regiment, which would be neither useful nor interesting to record. 

September 20th. A small expedition went to Currituck county, destroyed some rebel 
salt-works, and returned on the 24th. 

October 3d. The brigade was paid 4 mouths' wages. 

December 17th. We were again paid, by Maj. Crane, for 2 months. 

29th. An expedition went to Nixenton, on Little river, and returned on the 31st. 

1864. — January 7th. An expedition went to near Winton, on the Chowan river, and 
returned on the 8th. 

18th. Another went to the same place and took on board 50 negroes, all of whom- 
enlisted 

20th. An expedition went up the Chowan river. 

21st. Landed and marched to Harrellsville, 4 miles from the river, and captured 
large quantities of pork, horses, mules, etc. The rebels fired upon our pickets it was 
returned and kept up till morning, and we had one man killed and another wounded! About 



130 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

1,000 rounds of ammunition was fired, and we took one prisoner and killed one "reb," and 
most of the town was burnt. Ccl. Maxwell, of the 103d P. V., was in command, and the 
expedition then returned to Plymouth. 

23d. Expedition went to Lake Phelps, and returned on the 26th. 

Several other expeditions have since been made from this place, to Windsor, Edenton, 
and other parts, but none of any great importance; and so ends our campaigning for the 
present. 

Three-fourths of the Brigade have re-enlisted, for 3 years, and we hope that our 
next expedition will be to the Northern States where we are promised a furlough for 30 
days, and when that expires we desire to make a raid to Richmond to bring in Jeff himself, 
— his dearly beloved darkies we have got already. 

THE ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

Dedication of the MoNUME>fT Erected by the St.vte of Pennsylv.\nia as a Memorial to 
THE Soldiers of the St.\te Who Died in Southern Prisons and are Interred in 
THE Nation.'XL Cemetery at Andersonville, G.\. 

The following surviving members of the 103d Regiment, who were prisoners of 
war, and confined at Andersonville prison, attended the dedication of the Monument 
erected by the State of Pennsylvania in the National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga., 
December 7, 1905 : 

Calvin B. Alt (A), Tylersburg, Pa. Samuel McCoy (H), Shippenville, Pa. 

Jacob J. Anthony (D), Climax, Pa. John S. Moorhead (D), Deanville, Pa. 

Alvin H. Alexander (A), Clarion, Pa. Joseph Moyer (A), Letonia, Ohio. 

John J. Ashbaugh (H), St. Petersburg, Pa. Sebastian Neiderriter (H), Marble, Pa. 

R. P. Black (E), Chicora, Pa. James W. Richardson (A), Shippensville, Pa. 

Adam Banner (E), Bedford Stair Cross'g, Pa. Daniel L. Rankin (B), Butler, Pa. 

George W. Bruner (G), Pittsburg, Pa. Robert R. Reardon (H). 

Daniel Bowser (D), Parkers Landing, Pa. Samuel Rupert (H), West Freedom, Pa. 

William Boarts (F), Union City, Pa. William B. Sedwick (E), Foxbury, Pa. 

James S. Cooper (A), Pittsburgh, Pa. Andrew Shankle (G), Derry Sta., Pa. 

Oliver P. Campbell (K), West Sunbury, Pa. Isaac Shakely (B), Emlenton, Pa. 

Gabriel Duffy (E), Petrolia, Pa. Uriah Sloan (B), Emlenton, Pa. 

James Dunlap, Franklin, Pa. Fletcher Smullin (D), Putneyville, Pa. 

Charles C. Gray (D), Dubois, Pa. George W. Stoke (B), Reynoldsville, Pa. 

Clarence B. Gelston (K), Derry, Pa. Walter R. Smail (A), East Hickory, Pa. 

John C. Guiher (A), Grampion, Pa. Moses T. Steele (G), Elkins, Pa. 

George M. Gourley (G), Big Run, Pa. William A. Smith (B), Vernon, Pa. 

John Gould (D), Kittanning, Pa. Levi Schreckengost (D), Putneyville, Pa. 

Samuel W. Hamilton (D), Vandergrift, Pa. George Troutman (E), Butler, Pa. 

Peter Klingler (H), St. Petersburg, Pa. Jeremiah Wyant (D), Adrian, Pa. 

William Kleck (H), Lucinda, Pa. John M. Webb (E), Branchton, Pa. 

Aaron W. Lang (B). Marion Center, Pa. John Walters (H), Wilkinsburg, Pa. 

John Lower (H), Marble, Pa. Lester R. Warner (H), RedclyfTe, Pa. 

Others who had received orders from the State for transportation from a point 
near their homes to Andersonville and return to attend the dedication of the Monument, 
through illness and other reasons could not attend. Among those of the Regiment who 
returned the orders were : 

Samuel C. Burkholder (H), Butler Plank Hiram Irwin (H), North Pine Grove, Pa. 

Road, Pa. William D. Keefer (B), West Monterey, Pa. 

Henry C. Croup (E), Butler, Pa. Jackson McCoy (I), Slippery Rock, Pa. 

William P. Dunlap (I), North Hope, Pa. Andrew J. Reese (A), Shippenville, Pa. 

Emanuel Emminger (E), Brookville, Pa. Robert J. Thompson (E), Butler, Pa. 

William E. Gray (H), Franklin, Pa. Cornelius G. W. Stover (A), Callensburg, Pa 




PENNSYLVANIA MONUMENT. NATIONAL CEMETERY, 
ANDERSONVILLE. GA. 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH. 

My collaborator has insisted that I shall write a personal sketch. As it is chiefly 
through his individual effort, enthusiasm, encouragement and assistance that this com- 
pilation has been made, I feel that, in a measure, I should comply with his desire. He 
has suggested several reasons for this, but I shall mention only one or two. The principal 
reason for acceding to this request is that the reader who may be interested to know why, 
after nearly a half century has elapsed, an obscure enlisted man should presume to 
criticise the official reports of trained militarj' men, heretofore accepted by the historians 
of established reputation as authoritative and final. In my quest for the truth on all 
mooted questions I found mj'self interested in the personality of those who professed to 
speak with personal knowledge, in so far as they had participated in the events described. 
Early in my search, in a regimental history-, my attention was especially aroused by a 
description of the conduct of Casey's division at Fair Oaks, and a detailed delineation of 
the personal qualities and appearance of Gen. Casey. As I could see no motive for the 
misrepresentations in the volume, I carried my investigation far enough to learn by a 
personal sketch of the author, published in the same volume, that during the entire Pen- 
insular campaign he lay sick with, typhoid fever in a hospital at Washington, D. C, and 
did not reach the Army of the Potomac until it had been for some days at Harrison's 
Landing. The writer referred to had accepted the gossips of the camps and the imaginary 
stories of the enterprising newspaper correspondents as truth, and I have no doubt that 
he was perfectly sincere in what he wrote. In the preparation of this volume I have 
received several communications containing descriptions of the battle of Seven Pines, 
from comrades who are absolutely truthful, that are at variance with the truth. Their 
impressions were formed from the gossip they heard at the time, which they accepted 
as true, but of which they had no personal knowledge. Those who covered the battle 
in detail invariably stated that the Federal troops regained Casey's camps and intrench- 
ments on Sunday forenoon, completely routing the Confederates and driving them pell- 
mell into Richmond. However, it is possible that they may have refreshened their 
memories by reading the official reports and letters of Gen. McClellan. 

Another reason for a personal sketch is that I am only known to a comparatively 
few of the surviving members of the Regiment; not having met them since the war. It is 
possible that some members of my own company remember me only as the "worst boy" 
in the company. As an indication of this, the following incident is given: Some thirty 
years after the war Lieut. Scott of my company drove me to the home of Capt. Town- 
send, the first captain of my company. We had not seen each other since the summer 
of 1862. By prearrangement Scott remained in the background, and I entered the Town- 
send home as an entire stranger, ostensibly to make inquiry concerning certain neighbors 
of the Captain whose names had been given me by Scott. The information was vouchsafed 
and as I was apparently about to take my departure, a casual question from me caused 
Capt. Townsend to inform me of his army connection. As if in doubt, I told him I thought 
I had some friends in that regiment, naming four members of his company, my name 
among them. To all he gave most excellent characters, but myself ; I was the "worst boy" 
in the company. I had some difficulty to convince him that I was the "worst boy," and 
had merely called to see him, and I think he was not fully persuaded until Scott came 
in and vouched for me. Capt. Townsend's recollections of me were confined to the first 
year of the service. 

In the spring of 1866 I had a chance meeting with Maj. Mackey at Oil City, Pa. In 
introducing me to a friend, the major said I had caused him more trouble than his entire 
company. As Maj. Mackey was with the Regiment during its entire service after leaving 
the State until it was captured, it would seem the reputation given me by Capt. Townsend 
as to my conduct during the first year of service, was a fair index to my career during 
the entire term. Maj. Mackey's vivid recollections of my conduct, however, was confined 
practically to the first year's service also. He being at the right of his company and I 
at the left of mine, the color-guard only intervening, threw me in closer contact with 



132 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

him on our forced marches than with the officers of my own company. My escapades 
which irritated and aggravated him practically ended after the Peninsular and Goldsboro 
campaigns. There was no special reason why my conduct after the arrival of the Regi- 
ment at Plymouth should have been impressed on his memory. I remember very few 
incidents, except vaguely, in which the major was a participant after the Peninsular cam- 
paign ; but during our early marches in 1862 incident after incident comes to mind in 
which he was prominent. One that had entirely escaped my memory has been recalled 
by my collaborator. One chilly night going up the Peninsula, when we were without 
overcoats and rubber or woolen blankets, and we were compelled to stand and sit around 
wood fires, shifting positions occasionally to get away from the smoke, in order to exist. I 
decided to seek cover under Maj. Mackey's blanket. As he was sleeping soundly no 
protest was made until after I had awakened him by monopolizing more than a fair share. 
However, he then only accused me of being selfish and permitted me to share its cover 
until morning. At no time can I recall that either Capt. Townsend or Maj. Mackey ever 
gave evidence that they had any personal dislike to me, although I was constantly doing 
things, with no other purpose than to irritate and aggravate them. In fact, as my mind 
reverts to those happy days in the army, I can not recall that any commissioned officer of 
the Regiment ever gave evidence of mistreating me. For a long time I was bitterly hated 
by some of the non-commissioned officers of my Co., but in the end those who disliked 
me most turned to be my warmest friends. Perhaps the worst enemy I had, and one 
who had power to make me most uncomfortable at times, was Lieut. Wilson when he 
was orderly sergeant. His dislike began at Camp Orr when he was only a corporal. 
However, it was not only he that was bitterly prejudiced against me, but a group of the 
non-commissioned officers. At a period in the recruitment of the Regiment at the ren- 
dezvous camp there was a great influx of large robust men, many of whom preferred to 
enlist in our company in preference to those whose quota was yet deficient. A movement 
was started among a group of non-commissioned to have the "little fellows" trans- 
ferred to Co. K, in order to accept the fine looking men. It so happened that one of the 
non-commissioned officers was my particular friend, and he protested against my transfer, 
but as I was the smallest boy in the company, it seemed this coterie was determined, to get 
rid of me. My friend kept me informed of their plans and we (the boys) soon put a 
quietus to the transfer. However, I held a grudge against the men who had endeavored 
to get rid of me, and at every opportunity did what I could to intensify their dislike of 
me, resenting all overtures towards amity and comradeship. While all the commissioned 
officers of the company treated me with consideration, every peccadillo of mine was 
reported to them. My enemies in the Co. were not confined alone to the group of non- 
commissioned officers. Nearly all the "big"' men, during the first months of the service, 
had a strong dislike to me. Co. C. had a practical joker, who was my "evil genius." 
Private Edward Rogers was past forty, and during the period of his service with the Co. 
devoted his talents in concocting mischief, and found in me a willing helper. He used 
me to divert suspicion from himself, 

Although I had the reputation of being the "worst boy'' in the company, which appel- 
lation was given to me for my conduct during the first year of my service, I have been 
unable to recall any really reprehensible act of mine during that time, except once. While 
we lay at Meridian Hill, while a huckster's attention was diverted, I purloined two pies 
from his stand. Speedy retribution came, however. I was so pie hungry I did not wait 
to divide with my mess-mates, but gorged the pies into my stomach until the latter re- 
belled. A large dose of ipecac, supplemented with plenty of tepid water, could not have 
acted more promptly as an emetic. I neither bought or purloined pies from the Meridian 
Hill hucksters thereafter. I do not revert to the mean things I did while in the army to 
boast about them. I refer to them because of my sobriquet as "worst boy" in the company. 
The most reprehensible act of mine during the service was done after I had attained a 
high degree of respectability among all my comrades. It was a detestable act, and while 
I pride myself that I would not participate in the spoils of the transaction, it has always 
been a matter of humiliation to me that I had not the moral courage to denounce the act 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH 133 

at the time. A comrade who had been on detached service — a harum-scarum sort of a 
devil — induced me to go foraging with him, when on an expedition. Coming to a house 
where there were two or three women in evidence he suggested that I stand guard while he 
entered the house. I readily assented, thinking he wanted to chat with the women. After 
we had gone some distance from the house he proffered me some silver pieces. I think 
it was less than a dollar, which he had found stowed away with some clothing. He had 
represented to the women that he was an officer searching for fire-arms. I refused his 
proffer by making the excuse it was too insignificant to divide — the real reason was that 
my conscience revolted at the transaction, but I lacked the moral courage to tell him so. 
However, I never afterwards participated in any further schemes of his; I preferred to 
do my foraging alone. During my entire service I have no recollection of foraging any- 
thing but eatables. And I have no recollection of ever taking anything from inside of a 
residence that I did not pay for. I had no scruples against confiscating eatables found 
in the cook houses, generally separated some distance from the main residence. I can 
recall only one incident of this kind. Gen. Wessells made his headquarters at a mansion 
while we halted for our noonday meal. As the negro cooks were lifting the dinner I 
boldly walked in, helped myself to two corn dumplings which had been cooked with meat 
and vegetables. The negroes made no protest, but they evidently were not pleased. The 
dumplings were steaming hot and I had to keep them jumping in my hands as I hurried 
to my mess-mates. One of my peccadilloes that caused Capt. Townsend consternation 
occurred when the Army of the Potomac lay in front of Yorktown. Our Co. was on 
picket and at that time, during the day, the pickets on post were relieved every two hours. 
While I was on post some cattle strayed out from the enemy's lines some distance to the 
right, and some Confederates were creeping out stealthily to flank them just as I was 
reheved. I was very anxious to see how the affair would result, so I determined to 
return to the picket line. When we got back to the reserve I discarded my accoutre- 
ments and blouse, the weather being extremely hot, and instead of starting directly to 
the picket line, went the other direction in the woods, and then flanked the reserve, and 
hurried back to the picket line. The picket posts being in sight of each other I had no 
difficulty in passing on to the right, chatting with the pickets from time to time as I 
passed along. No one questioned my right to be there. However, before I had gotten 
opposite to the point from which the enemy had emerged he and the cattle had vanished 
out of sight. Realizing that I was some distance from my Co. and that I should make 
haste to get back I started through the woods in rear of the pickets, walking as rapidly 
as I could. I had only gone a short distance when I met a general and his staff and 
attendants, the party forming quite a cavalcade. As we met we both halted. "Who in the 

hell are you," asked the general. "I'm a picket," I replied. "You're a d d nice looking 

picket ! Are you a Yank or a Reb ?" "I'm a Yank," I responded, not the least bit abashed. 

"You look a d d sight more like a Reb than a Yank; where do you belong?" I told 

him. He said he had a notion to send me into camp, interjecting his remarks with con- 
siderable profanity. As I recall the incident I think I must have been a queer-looking 
picket. The first trousers we drew were a dark blue — so dark as to readily pass for black; 
our dress hats had been transformed into low slouches, and I was wearing a black and 
red flannel shirt which I had brought from home. There wasn't a shred of clothing 
on me that would indicate that I was an enlisted man. Finally, the general requested a 
captain of his staff to accompany me to the reserve, and told him to have me sent to 
camp if I did not belong there. As we reached the opening in the woods where my Co. 
lay in reserve Capt. Townsend spied the officer bringing me to the reserve. He hurried 
out to meet us, exclaiming, "I told him not to go away," at which I immediately took 
issue. But my escort had taken a kindly interest in me and told the Captain that he 
merely wanted to know if I belonged there. He said nothing about the General having 
seen me. Who the General was I never knew. The incident occurred about the time 
Gen. Naglee took command of the First Brigade of Casey's division, and it is possible 
that it may have been him ; at any rate, he could swear as fluently as Gen. Naglee. 

The boys of Co. C had many ways of irritating their enemies, and even their friends. 



134 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

When bivouacking in proximity to the enemy it was customary to stack arms as they stood 
in line of battle, and for the men to retain positions, close to their guns as they rested 
during the night. When everything was quiet one of us boys would single out some 
individual who could hear us, and make him the object of our remarks, acting as though 
we supposed he were asleep. Of course we either manufactured tales, or exaggerated 
incidents in which the object of our gibes had been implicated. I have a vivid recollection 
of engaging in this kind of sport the night after the battle of Seven Pines at the expense 
of Capt. Townsend and Corp. Leech of our Co., and Capt. Mackey. I had overheard 
the two former expressing something like abhorrence of war, and so tales were invented 
and whispered so they could be heard beyond the limits of the Co. Capt. Mackey was 
also guyed that night by the boys of Co. C. Among the things invented on him that 
night was that he had exclaimed when the enemy opened fire on the Regiment in the 
woods, "Boys, do your duty; I have a wife and family at home." This would be fol- 
lowed by some one telling of seeing the Captain in some ludicrous position to escape the 
enemy's fire ; by another who saw him fleeing rapidly to the rear ; &c., &c. ; perhaps a 
half-dozen or more describing various ridiculous predicaments in which they had seen 
him ; at times, some one would strike such a happy remark that everyone in hearing 
joined in laughter. This badinage was confined exclusively to the boys of the Co., and 
I think I was the main instigator. My enemies in the Co. received frequent verbal castiga- 
tions in this way. During my entire term of service I was in the guard house three times ; 
once at the rendezvous camp ; at New Bern, and at Fort Reno, Roanoke Island. At New 
Bern the entire Co. was in one large room, the non-commissioned officers having a section 
partly partitioned off from the privates. W. S. Birch and I and two other comrades were 
playing cards on an upper bunk near the non-commissioned officers' apartments. The 
boys were making an unusual racket on the floor. First Sergt. Wilson had ordered them 
to keep quiet, but as soon as he returned to his apartment they broke loose into a perfect 
pandemonium. When he came out the second time he asked me who was making the 
noise. I replied that if he wanted to know he had better stay out and see. He then 
asked Birch and received an insolent reply. He ordered us to come down and go to the 
g-uard house. We refused until he detailed a corporal and two men. We were taken to 
the guard house and remained until breakfast time, when Capt. John M. Cochran came 
after us. Only two or three weeks previous to this the orderly sergeant and I had an 
altercation which subsequently culminated our enmity towards each other. We were en- 
camped east of the Trent river at New Bern. One of the company had been on a drunk 
and had emitted the contents of his stomach on the street of our camp. Meeting the 
orderly at this point the next morning he ordered me to "clean it up." I declined. A 
little later he returned and said that he would give me "fifteen minutes to clean it up." 
I emphatically told him I would under no consideration "clean it up." He ordered me 
to get my gun and accoutrements ; I obeyed and was taken to guard quarters and re- 
lieved Geo. Forward, who was then on post. I stood guard in Forward's place that day. 
When the time came for court-martial boards to convene Capt. John Cochran sent for 
me. He told me that he was very sorry, but serious charges had been preferred against 
me. After lecturing me at length, he asked me to apologize to Sergt. Wilson and he 
would have the charges withdrawn. I refused. He argued with me, calling attention 
to the disgrace attached, &c. I stood firm and told him that I could go to "Fort Totten 
for six months and wear a ball and chain, but I could not say that I was sorry for 
refusing to clean up the dirt of a drunken shirker who evaded duty all the time." I told 
him that every man in the Co. knew who had committed the nuisance, but Sergt. Wilson 
merely wanted to humiliate me. I then recounted incident after incident in which I had 
gone on picket duty after a hard day's march through rain and mud out of my turn, when 
my mess-mates asked me to come to him and protest. As I talked to Capt. Cochran the 
tears rolled down his cheeks, but when I left him he said that he would have to forward 
the charges. "All right, captain, I can stand it if you can," I replied, and left him. I was 
not court-martialed and from that time on I never again had an acrimonious word with 
Sergt. Wilson. From that time he became one of my staunchest friends. 




Luther S. Dickey. 
(Corporal Co. C.) 



Samuel M. Evans. 
(Sergeant Co. C.) 




Baptist H. Scott. 
(2d Lieut. Co. C.) 



John Donaghy. 
(Captain Co. F.) 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH 135 

From the day I was mustered into the service of the United States until I was 
finally discharged from the service the incidents I witnessed of one day are more vividly 
impressed on my memory than that of any other day in my life. Not that I remember 
clearly everAthing that transpired that day of which I was a witness, but certain things 
which have a bearing on the most important events recorded elsewhere in this volume. It 
is to the incidents of that particular day, so indelibly and clearly stamped in my memory, 
that caused me to prepare this compilation. As long as my memory remains normal certain 
incidents that came under my observation on May 31, 18G2, cannot be obscured. Of the 
particular events preceding those of May 31, my memory is somewhat hazy. Had I 
written from memory alone and had no authentic data to refer to, I should have insisted 
that Casey's division had advanced to the "twin houses'' three days prior to the battle of 
Seven Pines, and that the pickets had been driven into the abatis in front of Casey's 
redoubt on May 28, 29 and 30. My impression was that "Newt" Joseph of Co. B had been 
killed on May 28, instead of May 29. To relate the incidents of May 31, I shall briefly refer 
to the action of my company the preceding day. Somewhere about the noon hour, or per- 
haps a little after, the attack was made on the picket line just north of the Williamsburg 
road. The entire division was hurriedly formed in line of battle, the 103d Regiment south 
of the Williamsburg road, and in advance of the rifle pits. The artillery of Casey's division 
thoroughly shelled the woods in advance of the abatis at which large details from the divi- 
sion had been working before the enemy had made his attack. The 100th New York Regi- 
ment was then sent forward and the enemy retired without attempting to hold the position 
from which he had driven the pickets. After the enemy had fallen back a battery of Casey's 
artillery continued throwing shells over the picket line, the division still formed in line of 
battle awaiting a general advance of the Confederate army. Late in the afternoon, it may 
have been as early as four o'clock, and it may have been after five o'clock, it was some- 
where between four and six o'clock, Co. C. was taken from the line of battle and hurried out 
to the picket line. A little while before the Co. left the line of battle a torrential rain and 
thunder storm broke forth, which surpassed, in the volume of water falling and the terror of 
the lightning and thunder, anything of the kind I have ever witnessed before or since. Dur- 
ing the heaviest part of this storm my Co. waded out to the picket line and relieved the 
pickets directly north of the Williamsburg road. Just what pickets were relieved the record 
nowhere indicates, but I am inclined to think they were from Co. C, 101st Regiment. My 
belief for so thinking is formed from conversations I have had with Private George P. 
Craig, of that Co. He is firmly of the opinion that his Co. was on picket May 31, in the 
position occupied by Co. C, 103d. His description of the position and the location of the log 
cabin in which the picket reserve was quartered, is so clear, that in my judgment, he is con- 
fused as to the date only, on which he was on duty. If there is anything of which I have 
positive knowledge, it is that Co. C, 103d Regiment, was on the picket line, immediately 
north of the Williamsburg road during the night of May 30-31, and during the forenoon of 
May 81, 1862. Lieut. Fahnestock was the only commissioned officer to accompany the Co. to the 
picket line, both Capt. Townsend and 2d Lieut. Cochran being ill in camp. The right wing 
of the Co. relieved the pickets deployed along the picket line, the left wing being held in 
reserve, taking refuge in a log cabin perhaps a hundred yards in rear of the picket line and 
a short distance back of the road. A blazing log fire was kept going all night and most of 
the men on reserve took off their clothing, thoroughly wrung the water out of them, and 
dried them before the fire. When I got my clothes in order, I drew the load from my gim, 
and thoroughly cleaned it, but did not reload, as the rain was still coming down in torrents. 
As I remember the events of that night at the log cabin no one had any apprehensions of 
an attack by the enemy. A guard was kept posted outside to give the alarm, but the men 
inside chatted and joked with each other, as they would have done had the enemy been a 
hundred miles away. During the after part of the night most of the men lay stretched on 
the floor of the cabin soundly asleep. Shortly after daybreak as I was getting my break- 
fast ready, which consisted only of coffee and sugar. Sergt. Wilson ordered the reserve to 
"fall in," sa}-ing that we must relieve the men on picket so they could dry their clothes, 
At this I demurred, saying that we ought to have time to make and drink our coffee. Dur- 



136 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

ing our advance up the Peninsula, after leaving Yorktown, when the Co. was detailed for 
picket duty, the left wing had been invariably posted on picket duty and the right wing held 
on reserve. I called attention to this fact, and furthermore that the left wing had never 
been relieved by the right wing. However, the sergeant paid no attention to my bickerings 
until the men were all about ready to start, when he came to me as I stood by the fire 
outside the cabin watching my coffee simmer, about ready to reach the boiling stage, and 
said, "Dick, now I want you to get your gun and fall in at once." He said it in a manner 
that meant "business" ; thereupon I gave my tin cup of boiling coffee a kick, which sent it 
flying several yards, got my gun, picked up my tincup, and fell in to the left of the reserve, 
which was only awaiting my presence to start. We began the relief of the men on duty at 
the first post next to the Williamsburg road, and moved north from there. When we came 
to the last post of our company's pickets there were three of us on the left who were not 
needed to make up the full complement required to relieve those who had been on duty 
during the night. Without giving the matter any thought Sergt. Wilson told us to distribute 
ourselves along the picket line at such posts as we desired to stop at, and left us. The first 
thing we did was to strike a fire and make coffee. After drinking our coffee we gathered 
some green huckle-berries which grew in abundance in the woods back of the picket line. 
Having filled our havelocks with these we started along the picket line. The enemy was 
already in force several hundred yards in front of the picket line. We found the men on 
post, behind trees all on the alert, expecting the enemy to advance. The picket line at this 
point was along the edge of a woods, west of which was an open space, perhaps 400 to 500 
yards in width, covered with bushes and briers, and clusters of scrubby oaks and pines, 
which interfered with the view in front. The atmosphere was heavy and tended to obscure 
the view. But by shifting positions the enemy could be seen in great numbers on the oppo- 
site side of the opening. I continued shifting from post to post endeavoring to get the best 
possible view of the enemy, until I finally came to the first post north of the Williamsburg 
road. From this point by far the best view was obtained, and added to this there was a 
field glass, by the aid of which we could distinguish the officers from the enlisted men. By 
this time Capt. Townsend had come out from camp and relieved Lieut. Fahnestock, the 
latter having gone to camp to change his clothes and get some breakfast. As this post, 
next to the Williamsburg road, offered the best view, Capt. Townsend made it his head- 
quarters. The field glass referred to belonged to the Captain, and by the time I had reached 
this post it was not in very much demand, so that I had the uninterrupted use of it. There 
were four men on this post, three of whom I remember; the fourth I cannot place. Those 
that I distinctly remember were William Dougherty, Thomas J. McKee, known as "Tom," 
and George W. McKee, the two latter being brothers. The fourth I have beeen informed 
was William (or "Bill") Hays. Although Capt. Townsend made this post his headquarters 
he kept constantly moving along the line, cautioning the men to be on the alert and warning 
them not to fire until the enemy advanced in force. In his official report Gen. Casey men- 
tions having received information twice through vedettes from the picket line that the 
enemy was advancing in force. It was Capt. Townsend who sent the vedettes in to the 
division commander, and I am sure he went back at least a half dozen times with the inten- 
tion of sending information to Gen. Casey, or to the general officer of the day. As I was 
a supernumerary at this post, no one paid any attention to my movements and I was per- 
mitted to have undisputed use of the Captain's field glass. The other men on the post each 
had a tree from behind which they kept peering as though expecting to see the enemy ad- 
vance at any moment. From where they stood they could not see the enemy in the distance, 
but they were scanning intently all the vistas through which the enemy would be compelled 
to pass in making his advance. With so many on the alert I kept shifting from one point 
to another in an endeavor to get a better view of the enemy. From behind a cluster of 
bushes surrounding three or four saplings, a little in advance of the picket post, and north 
of it, I found an excellent diagonal view, which gave me a glimpse of what appeared to be 
several regiments. While intently watching these through the glass the officers mounted and 
the men, who had been lying or sitting down, or standing around apparently in groups, came 
to attention, and I realized that the advance would soon be made. I hurried back to the 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH 137 

post and putting down the field glass picked up my gun. As I did this I remarked, "that I 
had better load my gun, as the 'Johnnies' were getting ready to come." George McKee, who 
overheard my remark, responded by saying, "You are a hell of a nice picket out here in 
front of the enemy without your gun loaded." To this I made what I thought was an appro- 
priate response, when Capt. Townsend came upon the scene, and hearing the colloquy be- 
tween McKee and I, inquired in an agitated manner as to what was the trouble, when 
McKee said, "Dick is out here in front of the enemy with his gun unloaded." The Captain 
then turned his attention to me, coming close by my side, exclaiming, "Why haven't you 
your gun loaded?" repeating the question before I had time to reply. Before the interrup- 
tion by the Captain, I had broken my cartridge and was about to pour the powder in my 
musket barrel, but when he broke in I stopped and as soon as he gave me an opportunity I 
responded in an insolent manner, "Because I had no orders to load my gun." At this the 
Captain whipped out his sword, and drawing it up, as though he were about to slash me in 
two, exclaimed, in an excited and loud voice, "I command you to load your gun !" Before 
he had completed his command, bang! bang! bang! went the signal guns of the enemy, fired 
from a battery masked directly in our front, not more than 200 yards distant. The missiles 
from these guns went whizzing through the tree tops near where we stood, and the Captain 
lost no time in seeking the cover of a tree, from which he commanded me to "Get behind a 
tree." There being no tree convenient to the post which afforded any shelter except those 
already occupied, I hurried out to the point from which I had the best view of the enemy. 
The smoke from the signal guns did not rise, but moved northward, obscuring momentarily 
the vista I had enjoyed with the glass, but as it passed I saw the enemy advancing; not the 
skirmishers, but the regiments in rear of them, moving by the flank. I immediately called 
out to Tom McKee : "Tom, they're coming." He responded, "Why don't you fire ?" As he 
did so he fired his gun and almost simultaneously with his fire, the post on the Williamsburg 
road fired and I then fired. My shot was the third fired on our side. 

There has been great discrepancy in the reports as to the time when the battle of 
Fair Oaks or Seven Pines began. Gen. Longstreet says: "The forward movement began 
about two o'clock, and our skirmishers soon became engaged with those of the enemy." 
Gen. Keyes says: "At about 12:30 P. M. it became suddenly apparent that the attack was 
real and' in great force." Before this he says: "The firing was becoming brisk, but there 
was yet no certainty of a great attack." In the preceding paragraph of his report he says : 
"At about 10 o'clock A. M. it was announced to me that an aid-de-camp of [the] * * * 
C. S. Army had been captured. * * * While speaking with the young gentleman, at the 
moment of sending him away, a couple of shots fired in front of Casey's headquarters pro- 
duced in him very evident emotion. * * * I concluded therefore, in spite of the shots, 
that if attacked that day the attack would come from the right. Having sent orders for 
the troops to be under arms precisely at 11 o'clock A. M., I mounted my horse and rode 
along the Nine Mile road to Fair Oaks Station." This would indicate that the signal guns, 
according to Gen. Keyes, were fired before eleven o'clock. I am positive that no shots were 
fired in front of Casey's headquarters during the forenoon of May 31, until the signal guns 
from Bondurant's battery were fired. Just what the exact time was no one apparently 
knows. However, it could not have been many minutes after 12 o'clock. Private Samuel 
Murphy of Co. C was acting commissary of the Company. He drew our rations early in 
the forenoon of May 31, and had some beans cooked as soon as possible, and brought out 
two full mess pans, a little before the noon hour. They were cooked even dryer than baked 
beans of the present day, and were evenly distributed among the men, which amounted to 
about a tablespoon ful to each man. That was all we had for dinner that day and our 
breakfast consisted exclusively of coffee. I remember being called from my advanced posi- 
tion to partake of the beans, and I also remember I was very much disappointed at the 
modicum that was reserved for me and expressed indignation, as though I had not been 
allotted my share. "Murph" assured me that I fared as well as the rest, and that he had 
brought all that he could carry. This occurred only a few minutes before the incident 
related as to loading my gun. The impression formed in my mind at the time, and which 
I have seen no reason to modify since I have thoroughly examined all the official reports. 



138 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

was, that the signal guns were fired a few minutes after 12 o'clock. It certainly was not 
later than li' :30. No musket shot was fired from either side at the point where the attack 
was made on May 31, until after the three shots were fired from the battery north of the 
Williamsburg road, which evidently was the Jeff Davis Battery, from Alabama, commanded 
by Capt. J. W. Bondurant. 

Before I had fired my second shot Tom }kIcKee was by my side, having come in order 
to get a view of the enemy. He and I remained together firing as rapidly as we could, 
making no attempt to sight at any one. As it appears to me now several minutes elapsed 
before the skirmishers of the enemy returned our fire and then Tom suggested we fall back 
to where there were a couple of good sized trees, which we did. Soon afterwards we 
heard Maj. Gazzam giving commands in our rear and shots began to come closer to us from 
the rear than from the enemy. Finally Tom McKee said, "Dick, we must get out of this, 
or we will get shot by our own men." I needed no persuasion, and we started to the rear, 
I ahead. In bringing my gun to a trail I realized my gun barrel was uncomfortably hot, 
the first experience I had of this kind ; it had never occurred to me that rapid firing would 
heat a musket, as the charge of powder seemed so insignificant. We were at this time 
equipped with Austrian rifles, which were short with a large bore. When they were clean 
they could be loaded without the use of a ramrod. In loading, the cartridge was broken in 
two, separating the bullet from the powder; the latter was poured from a paper cup, and 
the bullet, which was well greased, would readily drop to the powder when the bore of the 
musket was dry and clean. I have heard Maj. Gazzam criticised by some of our own men 
because he hurried the Regiment to the front without taking the precaution to have them 
load. To me this criticism has always seemed trivial. It is always easy to find fault, and 
point out where mistakes have been made after events have occurred. Maj. Gazzam re- 
ceived orders to move his Regiment quickly, and he did so. Had Gen. Casey known how 
formidable the advance of the enemy was he would not have sent the Regiment forward, 
but the fact that he did send it forward was a wise precaution, because the brief time it 
held the enemy in check not only apprised him and all the troops of the division that the 
attack was a formidable one, but it also gave him time to make "a proper disposition of his 
troops. 

As McKee and I moved back we crossed the Williamsburg road, but none too soon, 
as the enemy opened a terrific fire north of the road. The force of this fire fell upon our 
Regiment, which was then making its alignment in the woods. To me the battle had then 
opened in earnest. McKee and I were moving as rapidly as possible, through the tangled 
underbrush, supposing we were moving to the rear. The musketry north of the road con- 
tinued without cessation, although at times much heavier than others. I was holding the 
lead, McKee following closely. I was suddenly brought to a halt by an exclamation from 
my companion calling on me to halt. As I did so I raised my head and beheld the enemy's 
line of battle not more than ten feet from me, advancing toward us. Instinctively I turned 
and ran away from them. If they made any demand on us to halt I did not hear them ; 
neither did they fire at us. 

While compiling this volume my collaborator and I have not only written to all the 
surviving comrades whose addresses we had, but I have personally visited some who were 
with the Regiment when it received the fire of the enemy near the picket line. Three 
years ago I called on Comrade Tom McKee at his home in Allegheny, Pa. In the presence 
of Mrs. McKee and a grown daughter I had him relate his recollections of the 31st of May. 
He remembered having fired the first shot, but had no recollection of seeing me. Two* 
things he related with apparent pride ; one was having fired the first shot, and the other was 
that he was captured by the enemy and broke away from them under a heavy fire. Now, 
to me Tom McKee was an ideal soldier, and I know he was absolutely sincere in the belief 
that he had been captured and made his escape. I can understand that he experienced the 
sensation of having made his escape, but as I was with him from the time the firing began 
until we reached the fragment of our Regiment rallied by Maj. Gazzam in rear of the line 
of intrenchments, and as his actions were such during this time as to make him a hero in 
mv estimation, I shall relate them here. 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH 139 

Before McKee and I had emerged from the woods our batteries were shelling the 
woods in which we had been lost. During this time the Regiment had been driven back 
completely routed. We emerged from the woods about fifty yards south of the Williams- 
burg road and as we came out we spied our acting color bearer, Sergt. "Nels" Barr of our 
Co., sitting on a stump, apparently exhausted, holding the colors, which were furled, in one 
hand and the lower part of the flagstaff in the other. The flagstaff had been shot in two 
pieces, the bullet striking it squarely in the center at the lower edge of the colors. As 
McKee noticed Sergt. Barr he exclaimed, "Nels, you must get out of this ; the Johnnies 
are right on us." Barr replied that he was "played out," and could go no farther. There- 
upon McKee reached for the colors to take them, but Barr pulled them away, saying that 
he would not part with them. McKee insisted that he must have the colors or Barr should 
get back with them. For a moment we hesitated whether we should attempt to go back 
through the abatis, on the opposite side of which our infantry was formed, or move north 
to the road. There was a lull in the firing north of the road, but Col. Bailey's artillery was 
shelling the woods both north and south of the road and frequently the shells would ex- 
plode short, making it as dangerous for us as for the enemy. It did not take Barr and 
McKee long to decide, I acting entirely passive in the matter. We ran along the edge 
of the woods until we reached the road, Barr taking the lea-d. McKee would not budge 
until he did so. Just as we turned on the road the enemy opened a terrific fire and McKee 
called to me to drop, which I did; I lay so close to the ground that McKee asked me if 
I had been hit. The balls struck the ground all around us, one going underneath me, 
making two holes in my blouse, but neither of us received a scratch. When Tom gave the 
order I arose and we were both moving rapidly to the rear, when McKee spied one of our 
Regiment lying in the ditch south of the road, and finding that he was wounded in the 
thigh and unable to walk, he told me to take his gtm, and he assisted this wounded man' 
back to camp, and then fell in with Maj. Gazzam's rallied fragment of the Regiment. As 
we came in we passed Gen. Casey, who sat on his gray horse, only a short distance in rear 
of Spratt's battery, in position north of the road, perhaps 400 yards in advance of the in- 
trenched line. Gen. Wessells was also in advance of the intrenched line south of the road, 
quietly observing the enemy, who was then engaged with the advanced line at the abatis. 
Maj. Gazzam had taken position with his small group along the roadside north of the road, 
facing towards our camp, so that he could hail any stragglers coming from the front. 
Realizing that we might lose our camp I went over to my shelter tent and had just opened 
my knapsack to take out some home souvenirs when a ball struck the framework with 
such force as to cause the tent to collapse. I decided the situation was too serious to 
care for souvenirs. As I emerged from my tent I was accosted by Private Jones of our 
company, who asked me to come and see Sergt. Scarem, who, he said, was dying from a 
wound, in his tent. I stepped over to Scarem's tent and took only a momentary glance as 
he lay apparently breathing his last. His bosom was bared and there was an abrasion of 
the skin, which had the appearance of having been made by a bullet penetrating the 
abdomen. T was very much surprised that night to find Scarem with the Regiment. The 
ball, instead of entering the abdomen, had merely broken the skin near the pit of the- 
stomach, and made him deathly sick. I have criticised Gen. Naglee severely in this volume, 
and justly so, I think. However, it has been done without animus or prejudice. In fact, 
until I made the investigation bearing on the battle of Seven Pines I never spoke of him 
except in the highest commendation. Always when looking at the imaginary picture of 
Sheridan's ride at Winchester I was reminded of Gen. Naglee's approach to the battle field 
of Seven Pines. When the attack was made and until the musketry firing became frequent, 
he was some distance to the right of Fair Oaks Station obsers'ing the construction of a 
breastwork facing the Old Tavern. In his report he says that when he regarded the move- 
ment of the enemy to be serious, "I hastened in the direction indicated by the fire and soon 
arrived upon the ground, on the Williamsburg road " To one with a proper comprehen- 
sion of the points where the battle was then raging, and the position of the breastwork 
fronting on the Old Tavern, he would infer that Gen. Naglee went in direct line from the 
Nine Miles' road position to the scene of the conflict, a distance of not to exceed a mile 



140 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

and a half. This has strong corroboration by Col. Davis of the 104th Penna. Regiment, 
not in his official report, however, but in the history of his reg^iment, published in 1866, in 
which he says : "He [Naglee] came dashing toward us through field and wood to be with 
his brigade. In the warmest of the contest he dashed by the regiment, cap in hand, the 
men giving him three hearty cheers, and passed toward the left." The context from which 
this quotation is made clearly indicates that Col. Davis' statement was based on Gen. 
Naglee's own description of how he arrived on the battle field. Gen. Naglee did not 
approach the point of contest from the Nine Miles' road "through field and wood" ; from 
the breastworks in front of the Old Tavern he followed the Nine Miles' road to Seven 
Pines where it intersected the Williamsburg and Richmond road and came out the latter 
road to where Gen. Casey was directing the movement of the troops. Just the length of 
time that had intervened between the firing of the signal guns and his arrival at the front 
can be positively stated by no one. The writer's impression has always been that mores 
than an hour had elapsed, and his investigations have confirmed this impression. Naglee's 
official report clearly implies that the firing of the signal guns, the fusilade of the pickets, 
and the stand of the 103d Regiment in the woods caused him no concern. He probably 
was of the same opinion held by Gen. Keyes that if an attack was made it would be on) 
the right, and he may have regarded the firing at the Williamsburg road as a feint. In 
his testimony before the congressional committee Gen. Keyes says, "I did not consider the 
battle serious until the shot began to fall about me where I stood, and until I could see the 
masses of the enemy bursting through the woods in front of Casey's line." Of all the 
exciting incidents of which I bore witness on the 31st of May, 1862, two episodes were 
more vividly impressed on my memory than any others in my lifetime. The first was the 
colloquy between George McKee, my captain and myself, which occurred just preceding and 
at the time the signal gims of the enemy were fired. I remember clearly every word uttered 
then by all three; I can clearly recall the attitude of each one at the time. The other was 
the approach and manner of Gen. Naglee as he came out the Williamsburg road. Fromr 
the point on the Nine Miles' road where the breastworks were being erected to the in- 
trenchments at the Williamsburg road was about two and a half miles distant by the route 
covered by Gen. Naglee. All the incidents I have already related in this sketch had oc- 
curred and I was crossing the road from my tent to the fragment of the Regiment when 
I noticed a rider coming out the road as rapidly as his horse could gallop. From the time 
I first beheld him I kept my eyes upon him until he passed beyond the intrenchments. The 
furious haste in which he approached riveted my attention, notwithstanding the terror of 
the situation which confronted us. The horses belonging to the batteries of Casey's 
artillery were falling rapidly and their rearing and pitching when suffering from wounds 
and in the throes of death was a most horrible spectacle. The collapse of my tent, with 
men and horses dropping all around me, caused me to feel that the world was coming 
to an end ; and yet the sight of this horse and rider dashing with such haste as if they were 
anxious to enter the gates of hell, made me for the time oblivious to the terror of the sit- 
uation. The little fragment of my Regiment was gradually augmented until it now must 
have approximated 150. Maj. Gazzam sat on his horse at the roadside with the colors in 
his hands, furled and sheathed as they had been during the entire day. The flagstaff hav- 
ing been shot in two had made it unwieldy to unfurl them and as men came from the front 
Maj. Gazzam called for the 103d men to rally on their colors. As Gen. Naglee spied the 
Major waving the sheathed colors and the little band of men aligned back of him, he pulled 
the reins on his horse, bringing him to his haunches, and inquired, "What regiment is that?" 
Maj. Gazzam replied in an excited manner, "It's the 103d Pennsylvania, and it's all cut to 
pieces!" The Major's words were followed by a burst of profanity from Gen. Naglee, 
ending with "Unfurl your colors!" The dash and fearlessness of Naglee had an electrical 
effect upon me, and I then formed such a favorable impression of him that I have been 

loath to arraign him for being guilty of injustice to Gen. Casey, or to the troops of his 
division outside of his own brigade. As to Maj. Gazzam's excitement, one must take into 
consideration the events in which he had participated for an hour or more previous to this. 
During the fire from the enemy in the woods he had been swept from his horse by the limb 



AUTHOR'S SKETCH 141 

of a tree, his head striking a log where he fell, and when he recovered himself and re- 
mounted and reached the abatis he found his command scattered into fragments. Gallopine 
down the road to head off his fleeing men he was ordered by Gen. Casey to take a position 
in the rear to catch the men as they came in from the front. The condition of the flagstaff 
made it unwieldy and the experiences that Maj. Gazzam had undergone during the preced- 
ing hour would have caused the most phlegmatic commander to become somewhat unnerved and 
excited. It should be remembered that such veterans as Kearny and Peck retired by a 
secret road from before the enemy without commands a few hours later ; and in a letter written 
a day or two subsequent to the battle the former said, "It is most infecting to be sent for 
to restore a fight and see hordes of others panic stricken, disobedient, craven and down- 
cast. An}-Avhere it is a disagreeable sight to see the wounded being carried off the field of 
battle, even from a victorious one." The position we occupied at this time was even more 
trying on the nerves than had we been on the firing line, for from our position we had the 
most advantageous location to witness all the horror and terror of a battle without anv 
activity to divert the mind from self-consciousness. In a subsequent battle I heard a' 
"West-Pointer," the colonel of a regiment, use the identical words of Maj. Gazzam, under 
conditions which were not to be compared with the position of the 103d Regiment and its 
commander, and within a very brief period this same officer was promoted to bri<»adier- 
general, for his gallantr>' in that same action. As I have related this incident in detail 
which, by the thoughtless, will be construed as a reflection on the valor of Maj. Gazzam I 
wish to accompany it with the statement that, so far as I had opportunity to witness the 
actions of the Major during his entire career with the Regiment and from all the criticisms 
I have heard from both his friends and foes, no action of his ever gave evidence that he 
lacked courage in the presence of the enemy. 

The last time I was put in the guard house, I think I really deserved punishment. 
Lieut. Scott (when orderly sergeant) and I had a dispute as to the issue of rations. I 
denounced him as a cheat, and while he and I were engaged in a heated verbal altercation, 
the Captain (T. A. Cochran) came upon the scene and tried to pacify us. Neither of us 
was in a proper mental attitude to listen to reason and the captain ordered me to report 
to Sergt. Low and tell him I was to be put in arrest. The next day Capt. Cochran, who 
was then in command of the Regiment, installed me into office as Regimental Clerk. Two 
or three daj's later Scott and I, without either making any apologies to the other, renewed 
our former pleasant relations, and these were never after broken during or since the war. 
Our difficulty was due to a desire on my part to take advantage of an insignificant flaw I 
had noticed in Scott's distribution of the rations and I would have been very much dis- 
appointed had he corrected his error, before I had an opportunity to denounce him as 
dishonest. After Col. Lehmann assumed command of the Sub-District of the Albemarle I 
was detailed as chief clerk to his acting assistant adjutant general. All the clerical work 
of the office devolved upon me, even to affixing the assistant adjutant general's signature to 
the official papers. I had control of the countersign and issued it daily. The commissioned 
officers could not purchase liquor without an order from the adjutant general's office and 
this function devolved upon me. When the new companies came to the 101st and 103d 
Regiments, many of the commissioned officers approached me with diffidence and trepidation 
v/hen wanting an order for whiskey, saluting me as if I were a ranking officer. Lieut. 
Edgar Lee of the 101st Regiment was acting as assistant adjutant general when I first 
entered the office. He was succeeded by Lieut. G. W. Stoke of the 103d. Both gave me 
full authority to conduct the affairs of the office as I deemed proper, and neither ever 
had occasion to criticise any action of mine. My collaborator, who was my mess-mate, 
having in charge all the horses in the quarter master's department, I had my choice of 
animals when I wished to take a ride. 

After Lieut. Lee had returned to his Regiment he prevailed upon one of the new 
companies to give me some clerical work, which netted me nearly $50. This, compelled me 
to visit the quarters of the company, two miles distant from headquarters. The morning 
returns from some of the commands had been returned for correction, and I was com- 
pelled to transact my business before I could make out my daily return. During my ab- 
sence a dispatch boat had arrived from New Bern and a request was made from depart- 
ment headquarters for a detailed report of all the troops in the Sub-District of the Albe- 
marle. Col. Lehmann was very much agitated when he discovered the morning report had 
not been made and wanted to know where I was. Lieut. Stoke informed him that I had 



142 103D PEXXSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

gone for a ride. The Colonel's orderly came after me as fast as his horse could travel and 
found me just as my mission was completed. When I reached the office Lieut. Stoke told 
me that the colonel liad left word for me to go to his quarters on my arrival. Before 
doing so I made out the daily return, the corrected reports having been returned in my 
absence. When I met the colonel he opened on me with a tirade for neglect of duty. I 
endeavored to explain, but he was in no mood to listen to me. Knowing that I had him 
at a vantage I called him by requesting him to send me back to my Regiment. As soon 
as I did this his attitude changed, and never after did he in the faintest manner chide 
me, and never refused any request I made of him. 

I wonder if any of my comrades ever witnessed Col. Lehmann crying; I did. and 
there were other witnesses, but who they were I cannot now recall. It was on the 15th 
day of April, 1865. I was all alone at my work in my office. It was a bright sunny day 
scarcely a cloud in the sky. As I sat at my desk I heard the puff from a boat and as 
I looked out the window I saw a small steamer rapidly approaching the dock. I hastened 
out and arrived at the end of the dock just as the boat reached it. It did not stop; a 
man stood, holding at arm's length, not an envelope, but a loose hand-bill, and as I grasped 
it, he called to me with tears streaming down his cheeks, "The President is dead — mur- 
dered !" The boat sped on towards New Bern as though it were in a race. I glanced at 
the hand-bill which had been printed at Norfolk, and receiving it from a Government 
dispatch boat accepted it as official. It merely announced the time of death of President 
Lincoln, with a brief reference to his assassination. There was no signature attached. I 
consulted the Army Regulations and wrote the appropriate orders. I ran to the stable 
taking the first horse I could find and started on a wild gallop to deliver the tragic news. 
As I was flying on a narrow road bordered on either side by a dense wood I ran into the 
colonel and an accompanying cavalcade. Before I could get my voice he started to upbraid 
me for frightening his horse which was rearing and plunging from the shock I had given 
it by almost colliding my horse with it. "President Lincoln is dead" was all that I could 
utter. The Colonel raved and swore, and then cried like a child. 

I think the most pathetic memory I have of the Civil War was one of its final inci- 
dents. First Sergt. W. S. Cochran of my Co., my collaborator and I visited the Kinston 
battle-field a few days before our muster out in June, 1865. The bones of three of my boy 
comrades were still' lying there, "Col." Wilson. Jake Stiffey and Joe Austin. The latter 
was several months younger than I when he was killed, and he had always been my par- 
ticular friend. He was by far the brightest boy in the Co., but lacked the proper physique 
for an enlisted man. Ke was by my side when he was killed and spoke to me a few- 
moments before he received the fatal bullet in his brain. After my companions and I had 
visited the scene of the conflict we visited the tow-n of Kinston, perhaps a little over a 
mile distant. We were at the railroad depot when a train arrived bringing a number of 
Confederate soldiers. Some were expected and had friends there to greet them. But 
there was one who especially attracted our attention. He had lost one of his legs and 
walked with crutches. When he stepped from the train he hesitated for a few moments, 
scanning the faces of those near him but no one extended any greeting to him. He started 
in the direction of the bridge below the town, the scene of the battle of Dec. 14, 1862. We 
leisurely followed him some distance in the rear. As he went through the town he was 
accosted by no one. He exchanged no words with any one. He crossed the bridge a 
Httle in advance of us and when we got to the other side of the river, near by the 
church where the Confederate line was formed on that December Sunday in 1862, he was 
sitting down with some negro soldiers stationed there, eating supper with them. It was the 
most ''pathetic incident I witnessed during my entire term of service. 

If I am remembered by my comrades as the "worst boy," I beg to remind them that 
I was associated most intimately with one of the best boys of the Co. from the beginning 
of the service until the close. To mess with a comrade for nearly four years, in such an 
environment as is described in this volume, gave an opportunity to test the character. 
In this final paragraph written for this volume I wish to bear this testimony as to the 
character of my collaborator. We not only drank from the same canteen, slept under 
the same blanket, shared our food under all circumstances, but so far as I can recall, 
neither ever denied the other any request made by his messmate. Chided as I was by 
him. alwavs deservedlv so, it was done in an effective manner, and was always kmdiy 
received. During the nearlv four years of our intimate comradeship, I never saw Sergt. 
Evans under the influence of liquor; I never heard him utter a profane word; I never 
knew him to be guilty of any petty meanness. Neither did he affect piety; nor was he 
ever guilty of shirking duty; he was an ideal soldier and a true comrade. 



CASEY'S DIVISION AT SEVEN PINES I43 

A FOREWORD. 

"JVe have had a desperate battle. * * * Casey's division, which was in first line 
gave way unaccountably and discreditably. This caused a teynporary confusion, during 
which some guns a7td baggage were lost, but Heintcelman and Kearney most 'gallantly 
brought up their troops which checked the enemy. * * ♦ With the exception of Casey's 
division our men behaved splendidly." — Gen. McClellan. 

"An oMcer informed me that after we had driven the enemy beyond our first intrench- 
ments he visited Gen. Casey's camp and found more men bayoneted and shot within their 
shelter tents than outside of them." — Gen. Heintzelman. 

The above aspersions on Casey's division, and on the gallant dead who fell on the 
firing line at the battle of Seven Pines, repelling the assault of an overwhelming force of 
the enemy, appear in the oMcial archives in the War Record OiHce of the Nation. Against 
these calumnies the commanding general of the division earnestly protested but "without 
avail. With this exception, so far as the records show, they have been practically unchal- 
lenged, and will probably remain a standing and continuous slander on brave men who gave 
their lives to defend the integrity of the Nation. This compilation is made in refutation 
and as a protest to these slanders. ' 

The story of Casey's Division at Seven Pines, as presented in this volume, has in- 
volved many months of arduous research. None who may assume the role of critic can 
have a more perfect knowledge of the imperfections of the compilation than has the com- 
piler. In his effort to get at the truth everything else has been subordinated and no pre- 
tension has been made to follow the conventional war history. When the writer started on 
this work his first effort was made to find some histories from which he could cull the 
various parts of the story and thus save time and labor, and in doing this follow some 
writer of exceptional literary abilitj^ which would make the work curry favor with the 
pedantic reader. His preliminary research resulted in showing him the absolute untrust- 
worthiness of all histories that he examined which touched upon matters of which he had 
positive knowledge. This conclusion was not arrived at by reading two or three volumes 
but by a careful investigation of everything written on those points pertaining to the battle 
of Seven Pines on which the writer was conversant. The further his research was carried 
the more convinced he became of the utter untrustworthiness of the war histories published, 
as to giving the true facts. But this preliminary quest did something more ; it convinced 
the writer that in their indifference as to the truth, most writers were absolutely reckless 
as to the reputation they gave to the men who were giving, or had given, their all in de- 
fense of the Union. This was especially noticeable in the histories written by comrades-in- 
arms. As one who had done service with Casey's division, second to no one, from its 
organization until it disintegrated, he was quick to see how the first dispatch of the com- 
manding general of the Army of the Potomac to the Secretary of War announcing the first 
great battle between his army and the Army of Northern Virginia had absolutely discredited 
this division in the eyes of the historians. This dispatch, absolutely false and misleading 
in all essentials, from beginning to end, indelibly discredited the "raw troops," who had 
stood the brunt of the battle and saved the Army of the Potomac from irretrievable disaster. 

So prone is the human mind to follow first impressions that come from "high au- 
thority" that the slander on as brave men as ever faced an overwhelming foe, will last 
during the lifetime of all those who participated in this great contest in front of the Con- 
federate capital. Realizing this, the writer believed it would be a waste of time for him 
to merely refute the aspersions cast on Casey's troops by a brief summary and a general 
denial. Hence the comprehensive compilation bringing together all the slanders and mis- 
representations made and published which he was able to find in the libraries of the princi- 
pal cities of the country and elsewhere. A careful reading of this compilation, without 
reference to any comment from the writer, of itself presents a complete vindication of the 
troops held up to obloquy, and reflects unfavorably on all those who followed the bark of 
those who, to hide their own culpability, for the first day's disaster, threw the blame on 
the general and the men who should have had the most credit for defeating the plans of 
the enemy. 

The great mass of those who think they comprise the "patriots," and love to do honor 
to the patriotic dead on Memorial Day, when their ostentation can be witnessed by the 
multitude, will waste no time delving into the compilation which follows. Even among the 



144 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

comrades who love to listen to fulsome praise on Memorial occasions from orators, who, 
in impassioned oratory, lavish praise on them by calling attention to how much the nation 
is indebted to them for their sacrifices when the Nation was in peril; even among these, 
there will be those who will pooh-pooh this defense of the calumniated dead as too pre- 
tentious, and if they deign to give it passing notice, will take delight in calling attention 
to the crude manner in which the compilation is made, the defects in syntax, 
and diction and lack of literary merit, rather than to honestly follow the 
investigation closely and acknowledge the injustice done to brave comrades. 
But this compilation is not made alone for this generation. The writer has an 
abiding faith that his labors will be recognized by the historian who is yet to write the 
true story of the Civil War. It will not only tend to bring out the full truth as to the 
action of all the troops engaged in the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, but will assist 
the historian of the future by calling to his attention the fallibility of the men in high com- 
mand, and the importance of scrutinizing and verifying their reports with those of their 
subordinates who, by virtue of their position, were the most competent to speak. 

The investigation and research made by the writer in vindication of the comrades of 
his division has shattered some of his boyish idols. And this result was brought about with 
no spirit of the iconoclast. It has been no pleasant task to impeach the ability or integrity 
of men whom he idolized in his boyhood army days. But the injustice done to the men 
who for three hours held in check an overwhelming force of the enemy, many of whom 
sleep in unknown graves in the National Cemetery at Seven Pines and elsewhere, coupled 
with a pardonable pride in having the record of his own command freed from an unjust 
blemish, has impelled the writer to this vindication. And the vindication is complete and 
unassailable. No one who belonged to Casey's division need ever feel ashamed for the 
action of the division in the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks. Not that all did their 
duty; not that the division was as well disciplined as other divisions in the army; or that 
the regimental and company officers were as competent, perhaps, as in the other divisions ; 
but for the fact that this division held the enemy in check long enough to allow Sumner to 
cross the Chickahominy under adverse conditions, travel several miles, and form line of 
battle in a most advantageous postition in time to resist the onslaught of the enemy. 

In this investigation the writer has come to the firm conviction that had it not been 
for the valiant action of the weakest and "rawest" division of the army, led and encouraged 
by the white-haired old Mexican War hero, Gen. Casey, in advance of Seven Pines on 
Saturday afternoon, May 31, 1862, the Army of the Potomac would have been disastrously 
defeated, and the commanding generals responsible for the calumnies on Casey's division 
utterly discredited as inefficient commanders; and that the battle of Fair Oaks was the first 
(not the greatest) of the decisive contests fought during the Civil War. 

Today the State of Pennsylvania is doing special honor to her sons who had the 
privilege of battling with the enemy on Pennsylvania soil. This action on the part of the 
Commonwealth is fitting and proper; but her sons who served in the 52d, 85th, 101st, and 
103d Regiments are as justly entitled to her assistance in removing the unjust blot on their 
record, and especially to have that foul blot expunged from the official records of the War 
Department of the Nation, aspersing the heroic dead of these regiments: for had it not 
been for the devotion of the men comprising these regiments, along with their comrades 
from the Empire State and the little band from Maine, in advance of Seven Pines, there 
might have been no battle of Gettysburg. In the preparation of this work there has been 
an impelling motive, without which it would have been difficult to have brought it to com- 
pletion. To keep faith with the dead who fell in advance of Seven Pines, made it incum- 
bent on the writer to complete this vindication of the brutal aspersion cast upon them and 
printed in the official records of the War Department. The writer has endeavored to put 
himself in the place of a boy comrade of his company, Tom Meredith, who fell on the 
picket Hne more than a mile in advance of Seven Pines, and of whose burial place it can 
be said, as it is recorded of a noted man in the history of the world, "but no man knoweth 
of his sepulchre unto this day" 




MAJ. GEN. SILAS CASEY. 



Casey's Division at the Battle of Fair 
Oaks or Seven Pines. 



A Critical Analysis of the Official Reports and Dispatches Censuring 

Casey's Division for Discreditable Conduct at the Battle 

of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, May 31, 1862. 



No large body of troops engaged in the Civil War was treated with greater injustice 
than Casey's division of the Fourth Army Corps, attached to the Army of the Potomac 
during the Peninsular campaign under Gen, McClellan. As the published official records 
of the War Department stand today, no amend has been made for the wrong done to the 
division. No battle of the Civil War has been more misrepresented than the battle of Fair 
Oaks. After the lapse of nearly a half century it is still designated by two names, Fair 
Oaks and Seven Pines. The transitory historian has treated it lightly, regarding it as 
though 't were but a skirmish, preceding the Seven DajV Battles around Richmond, and 
yet, when the final word is written of the battles between the North and the South, the 
battle of Fair Oaks, which occurred May 31 and June 1, 1862, will head the list of the 
decisive contests of the Civil War, and the division which was made the scapegoat for the 
first day's disaster will receive credit for doing more to frustrate the plans of the Con- 
federate commander than any other division engaged in the battle. 

The battle of Fair Oaks was the first great contest between the Army of the Potomac 
and the Army of Northern Virginia. No other battle of the war was fought so close to 
the capital of the Confederacy; no battle of the war was better planned for the success of 
the offensive army, and had the plans been executed as originally designed, the defeat of 
the Army of the Potomac would have been overwhelming and complete, and yet what has 
been regarded as the chief factor in endangering the safety of the Army of the Potomac 
was what really saved it from irretrievable disaster, the unprecedented rainstorm of May 
30, 1862. Had it not been for this storm there is little doubt that both Casey's and 
Couch's divisions would have been gobbled up without an opportunity to show much if any 
resistance, and the remainder of the army whipped in detail by the very impulsion of the 
victorious army. 

It is said of the Duke of Wellington, when asked for correct information as to the 
battle of Waterloo, by one who was about to write its history, that he replied, in substance, 
as follows : 

"No man is more incapable of giving you the required aid than myself. Of that battle 
I only saw what came within the limited range of my own vision, the remainder I heard 
from others. Take all the official reports and the descriptive writings on both sides and, 
with the best judgment you possess, seek for the truth. You will more certainly find it by 
that method than by any other." 

Whether the incident above referred to is true or not, the official report of the 
commanding general of the Army of the Potomac, so far as it relates to the battle of 
Fair Oaks, gives e\ndence that he was utterly incapable of giving correct information as to 
the action of any of the troops under his command in this battle. Even with the aid of 
all the official reports of his subordinate commanding officers who participated in the 
battle, the report of the congressional committee on the conduct of the war, and the innum- 
erable descriptive writings written by his special newspaper friends, his report demon- 
strates conclusively that he had no proper conception of how the battle began, how it was 



146 CASEY'S DIVISION 

conducted and how it terminated. If the historian who writes the final word as to the 
battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, should accept the report of Gen. McClellan as authori- 
tative, posterity will never know the true story of that bloody conflict. The fact that 
such a proficient military man as Gen. McClellan was unable to get a proper g^rasp of the 
battle of Fair Oaks is an indication of the stupendous task that confronts the historian 
who writes the true story of the first great contest between the Army of the Potomac 
and the Army of Northern Virginia. 

It is not the purpose of the writer to assume the prerogatives of the historian in 
reference to the battle of Fair Oaks. His chief concern is to the part played in this battle 
by Casey's division, and even here the place he would take is not that of historian, but 
rather that of an assistant or guide to him who shall write the final word on the battle. 
He would point out from the chaos of discrepant official reports and imaginary descriptive 
writings of the battle, obvious errors, omissions, and misstatements, and endeavor to recon- 
cile discrepancies honestly made, which will confuse anyone who attempts elucidation, unless 
he has some knowledge of the lay of the grounds and of the conditions under which the 
battle was fought. 

There are two wagon roads approaching Richmond from the east, leading from the 
battle-field of Fair Oaks, one known as the Nine-miles road, but usually designated in 
the official report as the "Nine-Mile," and sometimes as the New Bridge road; the other 
as the Williamsburg road, sometimes referred to as the Richmond road, and the main 
road. The Nine-miles road enters the city through the northeast suburb, while the Williams- 
burg road enters through the southeast suburb. These two roads intersect each other at 
Seven Pines, seven miles east of Richmond on the Williamsburg road and nine miles via 
the Nine-miles road. Approaching Richmond from the east is a railroad (Richmond and 
York River, now known as the Southern), which is intersected by the Nine-miles road a 
scant miie from Seven Pines. This intersection is designated as Fair Oaks, or Fair Oaks 
Station, and is also distant from Richmond seven miles via the railroad. The Williams- 
burg road crosses the Chickahominy at Bottom's Bridge, almost fourteen miles east of 
Richmond. The railroad crosses the river about three-fourths of a mile north of the road, 
and these two roads converge and diverge to and from each other from a fourth of a 
mile to a mile until they pass beyond the battle-ground of Fair Oaks, being a little over 
a half mile distant at Seven Pines on a straight line north and south. 

The country south and west of the Chickahominy is low and flat. Extending from 
the Chickahominy river south of Bottom's Bridge to within five or six miles of Richmond 
was a deep, heavily wooded morass known as White Oak Swamp, aflFording a natural pro- 
tection from the south. The northern border of White Oak Swamp varied in distance 
from the Williamsburg road from five or six miles to less than a mile, being about a mile 
distant at Seven Pines, veering slightly to the north for the next mile. 

Casey's division crossed the Chickahominy river at Bottom's Bridge May 23, 1862, 
then being the vanguard of the left wing of the Army of the Potomac. On Saturday, May 

24, the advance picket line was established at Seven Pines, and on the following day. May 

25, the line was pushed forward on the Williamsburg road a mile and a half in advance- 
of Seven Pines. 

On the 26th and 27th the picket line was gradually extended to the right until it 
reached the Chickahominy river. The picket line of the left wing of the Army of the 
Potomac now extended along the northern border of White Oak Swamp until within six 
miles of Richmond, when it gradually curved to the right, crossing the Williamsburg road> 
perpendicular to it, five and a half miles east of Richmond, extending north to the rail- 
road, crossing it about a mile west of Fair Oaks Station, thence to the Nine-miles road to 
a point where it was intersected by a private road leading to the Garnett farm house, thence 
along this road for a quarter of a mile, whence it slightly veered to the right until it 
reached the Chickahominy river. This picket line, between four and five miles in length, 
was covered by Casey's division until May 30, when the line from the Williamsburg road 
south was entrusted to Couch's division, Casey's pickets taking care of the line north of 
the road to the Chickahominy, about three miles in extent. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 147 

Early in the morning of May 29 Casey's division was advanced five-eighths of a mile 
west on the Williamsburg road, the order directing the advance indicating the position to 
be occupied as follows; "By a large wood-pile and two houses, about three-fourths of a 
mile beyond Seven Pines." 

The two houses referred to were situated 135 yards south of the Williamsburg road, 
in line with each other, facing north towards the road, and in the same yard, only a few 
feet apart, and in the official reports and descriptive writings are frequently referred to as 
the "twin houses." The wood-pile referred to was situated a short distance west of the 
two houses. It was about ten or twelve feet high and more than 100 feet long, extending 
north and south, the north end being about 75 yards south of the road, and it consisted of 
four foot cordwood. The land surrounding the two houses had been under cultivation, and 
there v/as an open space west of the wood pile, extending towards Richmond about a third 
of a mile, and which extended about a fourth of a mile both north and south of the Williams- 
burg road. The grounds immediately north of the Williamsburg road in front of the two 
houses had evidently been under cultivation some years before, but at this time were covered 
by undergrowth for 150 yards north of the road, when the grovnh became heavier, at first 
being mostly saplings, while farther north they assumed the proportions of trees, but appar- 
ently of recent growth. These woods continued more or less dense and heavy until they 
reached the railroad, nearly three-fourths of a mile distant. About 200 yards north of the 
road the woods gradually curved to the west, and the borders were fringed writh 
undergrowth and saplings. The western border of the open space between Richmond and 
the position assigned to Casey's division was a heavy forest filled with undergrowth, at 
places matted and tangled with briers making them impenetrable. This forest, both north 
and south of the Williamsburg road, gradually curved to the east, making both the northern 
and southern extremities semi-circular, and a continuous forest on the north for more 
than a fourth of a mile south of the railroad, east to and beyond the Nine-miles road and 
south to the undergrowth north of the road in front of the two houses. On the south 
the forest extended to White Oak Swamp and gradually curved east and north until it 
reached within 100 yards east of the two houses, the woods between White Oak Swamp, in 
rear of Casey's position, being continuous from White Oak Swamp to the railroad. The 
woods between Richmond and the open space in front of Casey's position extended west 
about a quarter of a mile on both sides of the Williamsburg road, west of which was an 
c^en space about a fourth of a mile in width, covered by a dense undergrowth. The Federal 
picket line was posted along the western edge of these woods, while the Confederate pickets 
were posted about a hundred yards west of the woods, well concealed by clusters of small 
trees and undergrowth. 

When Casey's division advanced on the 29th, Naglee's brigade was assigned to a 
position north of the Williamsburg road ; with Wessells' brigade directly south of the road, 
between the road and the two houses, and immediately east of the wood-pile, and Palmer's 
brigade south of the two houses. As soon as the respective regiments reached the positions 
assigned them, on the morning of the 29th, large details were made for fatigue duty and 
work was begun at once intrenching the position. 

The erection of a pentangular redoubt, rifle-pits, and the slashing of timber, the 
location of which had been directed by Gen. J. G. Barnard, Chief of Engineers of the 
Army of the Potomac, on the 28th, was begun under the supervision of Lieut. M. D. 
McAlcster, of the Engineer Corps. As this redoubt was the pivotal point in the battle of 
Fair Oaks, so far as Casey's division is concerned, it is very essential to know its location 
to understand the position of Casey's troops during the battle. It was located fully fifty 
yards south of the Williamsburg road and about the same distance in advance of the 
wood-pile. It was over a half mile in advance of Seven Pines and nearly three-fourths of 
a mile from Fair Oaks Station, and about the same distance from White Oak Swamp. 
With the site of the Casey redoubt clearly in mind, and its relative position to other points, 
certain discrepancies in the official reports can be better understood, and errors of statement 
be corrected. This is very essential to do justice to Wessells' and Palmer's brigades. In 
none of the official reports of the battle is the location of the redoubt given ; but Gen. 



148 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Wessella, in giving the position of the troops of his brig^ade, properly places it south of 
the Williamsburg road, which he terms the Richmond road. 

At daylight on the morning of the "JSth, the enemy attacked Casey's pickets, imme- 
diately north of the Williamsburg road, driving them back through the woods, killing the 
commanding officer of the picket, Maj. John E. Kelley, 96th New York Regiment, and 
Private Newton Joseph, Company B, 103d Penna. Regiment. Capt. George W. Gillespie, 
103d Regiment, being on picket with his company (B), assumed command of the pickets 
when Maj. Kelley fell, drove the enemy back, and reestablished the picket line. / 

Gen. Casey reported the affair as follows : 

"At daylight this morning the enemy attacked my advanced picket on the Richmond 
road. They took advantage of the dense fog, and approached very near before being dis- 
covered. The pickets behaved nobly, and drove the rebels back in disorder. They left 
a wounded prisoner on the ground, who states that their force consisted of 300 men, 
of the Twenty-third North Carolina Regiment. We lost 1 officer and 1 private killed, and 
2 enlisted men wounded. The officer killed (Maj. John E. Kelley, of the Ninety-sixth New 
York Volunteers, who commanded the pickets) is a great loss to the service. I knew him 
well when orderly-sergeant of the Second Infantry. I have inclosed a list of the killed and 
wounded. Capt. George W. Gillespie, of the One Hundred and Third Penna. Volunteers, 
who commanded the pickets after the death of Maj. Kelley, behaved very well." (O. R. 
Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 745-746). 

Evidently this reconnoissance proved a failure due, no doubt, to the heavy fog that 
prevailed and also to the spirited resistance made by the pickets ; for about noon 
on May 30 the enemy again attacked the pickets at the same point, driving them back through 
the woods to where the men on fatigue duty were slashing timber, and enabling him to get 
a view of the line of intrenchments then being constructed. This attack seeming to be 
formidable, the entire division was kept in line of battle most of the afternoon, and the 
batteries of the division opened fire on the woods and continued the fire for some time, 
thoroughly shelling the woods. The 100th New York Regiment was sent forward to the 
support of the pickets and succeeded in reestablishing the picket line. The Confederate attack 
was led by Col. D. H. Christie, 23d North Carolina Regiment, who says in his official report 
of the affair: 

"The enemy is in large force in our immediate front and intrenching. The evidence 
before me is sufficient to enable me to say that 4 or 5 of the enemy were killed and 10 
to 15 wounded; 1 prisoner. I regret to announce the loss of Capt. J. F. Scarborough 
* * * and Private Redfearn." (O. R. Ser. I. Vol. XI, part II, page 646.) 

In the history of the 23d North Carolina in North Carolina Regiments the writer says: 

■'In this sortie down the Williamsburg road 30 May, several men were wounded and 
Capt. Ambrose Scarborough, of Co. C, in command of the four companies reconnoitering, 
was killed. In the person of this gallant officer the regiment lost its first man from a 
hostile bullet. Capt. Frank Bennet commanded the advance line of sharpshooters, who 
really developed the enemy's strength was severely wounded, being disabled for months." 
(N. C. Regiments, Vol. II, pp. 203-204.) 

The only official report of the affair from the Federal side is made by Gen. Casey in 
his official report of the battle of Fair Oaks. He says: 

"In the attack of the 30th I ordered the 100th New York Volunteers to move to the 
support of the pickets. With the assistance of this regiment, under command of Col. 
Brown, they succeeded in repelling the attack, the enemy leaving 6 of his dead upon the 
ground." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, page 914.) 

No reference is made to any loss on the Federal side by Gen. Cascy. 

On May 31, 1862, Casey's division was composed of 13 regiments of infantry in 
three brigades, and four batteries of artillery, aggregating 22 guns. The First Brigade, 
commanded by Brig.-Gen. Henry M. Naglee, consisted of the following regiments: 104th 
Penna., commanded by Col. William W. H. Davis; 52d Penna., commanded by Col. John 
C. Dodge, Jr. ; 56th New York, commanded by Lieut.-Col. James Jourdan ; 100th New York, 
commanded by Col. James M. Brown; 11th Maine, commanded by CoL Harris M. Plaisted. 

The Second Brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Henry W. Wessells, consisted of the 
following regiments: 85th Penna., commanded by Col. Joshua B. Howell; 101st Penna., com- 



AT SEVEN PINES. 149 

mandeJ by Col. David B. Morris; 103d Penna., commanded by Maj. Audley W. Gazzam ; 
96th New York, commanded by Col. James Fairman. 

The Third Brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Innis N. Palmer, consisted of the fol- 
lowing regiments : 81st New York, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Jacob J. De Forest ; 85th New 
York, commanded by Col. Jonathan S. Belknap; 92d New York, commanded by Col. Lewis 
C. Hunt; 98th New York, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Charles Durkee. 

The artillery was commanded by Col. Guilford D. Bailey, and was composed of the 
followiiig batteries: Company A, 1st New York, commanded by Lieut. George P. Hart; 
Company H, 1st New York, commanded by Capt. Joseph Spratt ; 7th New York Independent 
Battery, commanded by Capt. Peter C. Regan; 8th New York Independent Battery, com- 
manded by Capt. Butler Fitch. 

In order to show how unjust and uncalled for the treatment accorded to Casey's 
division was in the battle of Fair Oaks, it will be necessary to refer to the other troops 
which participated in the battle. At this time the Army of the Potomac consisted of five 
corps, as follows: Second, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Edwin V. Sumner; Third, by Brig.- 
Gen. S. P. Heintzelman; Fourth, by Brig.-Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes; Fifth, by Brig.-Gen. 
Fitzjohn Porter; Sixth, by Brig.-Gen. William B. Franklin. The Second Corps (Sumner's) 
consisted of two divisions: First Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Israel D. Richardson; 
Second Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. John Sedgwick. The Third Corps (Heintzcl- 
man's) consisted of two divisions: Second Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Joseph 
Hooker ; Third Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Philip Kearny. The Fourth Corps 
(Keyes') consisted of two divisions : First Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Darius N. 
Couch ; Second Division, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Silas Casey. As the corps of Porter and 
Franklin did not participate in the battle of Fair Oaks, the only notice of them relevant in 
this narrative is to state that they comprised the right wing of the Army of the Potomac 
and were encamped on the north and east bank of the Chickahominy river, and after the 
Sumner bridges became submerged on May 31, were practically isolated from the left wing 
of the army. 

Richardson's division of Sumner's corps consisted of three brigades, as follows : 
First Brigade, Brig.-Gen. O. O. Howard; comprising the following regiments: 5th New 
Hampshire, Lieut.-Col. Samuel G. Langley; 61st New York, Col. Francis C. Barlow; 64th 
New York, Col. T. J. Parker; 81st Penna., Col. James Miller. 

Second Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Thomas F. Meagher: 63d New York, Col. John Burke; 
69th New York, Col. Robert Nugent; 88th New York, Lieut.-Col. Patrick Kelly. 

Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. William H. French: 52d New York, Col. Paul Frank; 
57th New York, Col. Samuel K. Zook; 66th New York, Col. Joseph C. Pinckney; 53d 
Penna., Col. John R. Brooke; Artillerj^ Capt. G. W. Hazzard : B 1st New York. Capt. 
Rufus D. Petit; G, 1st New York, Capt. John D. Frank; A and C, 4th U. S., Capt. G. W. 
Hazzard. 

Second Division, Brig.-Gen. John Sedgwick. 

First Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Willis A. Gorman; 15th Mass., Lieut.-Col. John W. Kimball; 
1st Mimi., Col. Alfred Sully ; 34th New York, Col. James A. Suiter ; 82d New York, Lieut.- 
Col. Henry W. Hudson ; 1st Company Mass. Sharpshooters, Capt. John Saunders ; 2d Com- 
pany Minn. Sharpshooters, Capt. William F. Russell. 

Second Brigade, Brig.-Gen. William W. Burns: 69th Penna., Col. Joshua T. Owen; 
71st Penna., Maj. Charles W. Smith; 72d Penna., Col. DeWitt C. Baxter; 106th Penna., 
Col. Turner G. Morehead. 

Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. N. J. T. Dana: 19th Mass., Col. Edward W. Hinks; 20th 
Mass., Col. W. Raymond Lee; 7th Mich., Col. Ira R. Grosvenor; 42d New York, Col. E. C. 
Charles; Artillery, Col. Charles H. Tompkins: A, 1st Rhode Island, Capt. John A. Tompkins; 
B, 1st R. I., Capt. Walter O. Bartlett; G, 1st R. I., Capt. Charies D. Owen; I, 1st U. S., 
Lieut. Edmund Kirby; Cavalry: 6th New York, Capt. Riley Johnson. 

The Third Corps, commanded by Brig.-Gen. S. P. Heintzelman, consisted of two 
divisions, commanded by Gens. Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearney. Hooker's division 
embraced the following troops: First Brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grovcr, 



150 CASEY'S DIVISION 

consisting of the 1st Mass., Col. Robert Cowden; 11th Mass., Col. William Blaisdell; 2d 
New Hampshire, Col. Gilman Mansion ; 26th Penna., Col. William F. Small. Second 
Brigade. Brig.-Gen. Daniel E. Sickles: 70th New York (1st Excelsior), Maj. Thomas Holt; 
71st New York (2d Excelsior), Col. George B. Hall; 72d New York (3d Excelsior), Col. 
Nelson Taylor; 73d New York (4th Excelsior), Maj. John D. Moriarity; 74th New York 
(5th Excelsior), Col. Charles K. Graham. Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Francis E. Patterson: 
5th New Jersey, Col. Samuel H. Starr; 6th New Jersey, Col. Gresham Mott ; 7th New 
Jersey, Maj. Frank Price, Jr. ; 8th New Jersey, Lieut.-Col. Joseph Trawin. 

Kearny's division was composed of the following troops: First Brigade, commanded 
by Brig.-Gen. Charles D. Jameson; 78th New York, Col. Stephen A. Dodge; 57th Penna., 
Col. Charles T. Campbell; 63d Penna.. Col. Alexander Hays; 105th Penna., Col. Amor A. 
McKnight. Second Brigade, Brig.-Gen. David B. Birney: 3d Maine, Col. Henry G. Staples; 
4th Mame, Col. Elijah Walker; 38th New York, Col. J. H. H. Ward; 40th New York. 
Lieut. Col. Thomas W. Egan. Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Hiram G. Berry: 2d Mich., Col. 
Orlando M. Poe; 3d Mich., Col. S. G. Champlin; 5th Mich., Col. Henry D. Terry; 37th 
New York, Col. Samuel B. Hayman; Artillery, commanded by Maj. Charles S. Wainwright: 
D, 1st New York, Capt. Walter M. Bramhall. 

Couch's division of Keyes' corps consisted of three brigades, commanded respectively 
by Brig.-Gens. John J. Peck, John J. Abercrombie and Charles Devens, Jr. Peck's brigade 
was composed of the following regiments : 55th New York, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Louis 
Thourot; 62d New York, Col. J. LaFayette Riker; 93d New York, Col. J. M. McCarter; 
102d Penna., Col. Thomas A. Rowley. Abercrombie's brigade was composed as follows : 
65th New York (1st U. S. Chasseurs), Col. John Cochrane; 67th New York (1st Long 
Island), Col. Julius W. Adams; 23d Penna., Col. Thmas H. Neill; 31st Penna., Col. David 
H. Williams ; 61st Penna., Col. Oliver H. Rippey. Devens' brigade : 7th Mass., Col. David 
A. Russell; 10th Mass., Col. Henry S. Briggs; 36th New York, Col. Charles H. Innes. The 
2d Rhode Island, of this brigade, was absent on detached service and did not participate in 
the battle. 

The artillery of Couch's division consisted of four batteries of the 1st Penna. Light 
Artillery, commanded by Maj. Robert M. West; Battery C, commanded by Capt. Jeremiah 
McCarthy; Battery D, by Capt. Edward H. Flood; Battery E, by Capt. Theodore Miller; 
Battery H, by Capt. James Brady. 

Both divisions of Sumner's corps were encamped at noon, May 31, on the north bank 
of the Chickahominy, some five or six miles distant from Casey's position, Gen. Richardson 
near what is known as Sumner's lower bridge, and Gen. Sedgwick near the upper bridge. 

Hooker's division was encamped along the northern border of White Oak Swamp, 
south and east of Savage Station, guarding the approaches through the swamp. 

Kearny's division was in camp near the Williamsburg road, a mile or two east of 
Bottom's Bridge; two brigades, Birney's and Berry's, were advanced to a point near Savage 
Station, bivouacking there about noon on Saturday, Jameson's brigade remaining near 
Bottom's Bridge until after the battle of Fair Oaks had been raging for more than an hour. 

Couch's division v/as encamped along the Nine-miles road, a little west of it, from 
east of Fair Oaks Station to the Williamsburg road, and thence south towards White Oak 
Swamp; Abercrombie's brigade as follows: 67th New York (1st L. I. Vols.) in rear of the 
ritie-piis, near the intersection of the Williamsburg and Nine-miles road, but to the right 
of the former road; 23d Penna. and 65th New York (1st U. S. Chasseurs) along the 
Nine-miles road, almost in rear of the 67th N. Y. ; the 31st Penna. north of Fair Oaks 
Station, on the Nine-miles road, between the railroad and Richmond; the 61st Penna. north 
of the railroad, between Fair Oaks Station and the Chickahominy river. The special duty 
assigned to the 31st and 61st Penna. regiments was to guard the crossing at Fair Oaks 
Station. 

Devens' brigade was encamped a short distance east of the Nine-miles road near the 
Williamsburg road, and Peck's brigade south of the Williamsburg road, between that road 
and White Oak Swamp. Brady's battery was in position at Fair Oaks Station, with the 



AT SEVEN PINES. 151 

31st and 61st Penna. regiments, while the other three batteries of the division were parked 
east of the junction of the Williamsburg and Nine-miles roads with Devens' brigade. 

From the time Casey's division had crossed the Chickahominy river on May 23 large 
details from every regiment were kept constantly at work slashing timber into abatis, 
building breastworks, rifle-pits and redoubts, and repairing the roads. The heavy rain on 
the afternoon and night of May 30 had made it impracticable to work on the rifle-pits on 
the 31st, but a large force was put to work slashing timber north of the Williamsburg road, 
on the edge of the wood, in front of the intrenchments. An abatis had been formed south 
of the Williamsburg road, from 50 to 75 yzTds in width, extending about 200 yards south; 
while north of the road it did not exceed 100 yards in length, and was not more than 40 or 
50 yards in width. The woods in rear of Wessell's camp, and also for a short distance 
north of the Williamsburg road, had been slashed into abatis. 

On Saturday forenoon, May 31, the commissary department of Casey's division 
received and issued supplies, and the men in Camp were anticipating a full repast 
after more or less fasting for two or three days. A few minutes after 12 o'clock, while 
some of the men were already enjoying their dinner, and others were anxiously awaiting 
theirs, three cannon balls came whizzing over Casey's camp, in rapid succession, passing 
on to Couch's camp, three-fourths of a mile to the rear. As these shots were immediately 
followed by musketry fire on the picket line, Gen. Casey ordered Gen. Wessells to send 
forward the lOSd Penna. Regiment to support the pickets. As the firing soon indicated a 
formidable advance of the enemy, the division was ordered under arms, orders issued to 
have the men at work on the rifle-pits and abatis recalled to their regiments, the artillery 
harnessed, and lines of battle formed, which was done under the direction of Gen. Casey 
and Gen. Wessells, as follows : 

The 101st Penna. Regiment was placed on the right of the Williamsburg road, perpen- 
dicular to it, the right flank of the battalion extending into the woods and in rear of the 
newly constructed rifle-pits, the extreme right of the battalion being about 400 yards north 
of the Williamsburg road ; the 85th Penna. Regiment in rear of the rifle-pits, extended 
from the redoubt across the Williamsburg road, the right flank almost to the left of the 
101st; the 96th New York Regiment, and Companies F and I, of the 103d Penna., were 
placed in advance of the rifle-pits and to the left of the redoubt ; the 85th New York Regi- 
ment m rear of the rifle-pits, to the left of the redoubt ; Capt. Bates' battery, Company A, 
1st New York Artillery, commanded by Lieut. George P. Hart, six guns, light brass twelve- 
pounders, was placed in the redoubt; Capt. Peter C. Regan's battery, 7th New York, Inde- 
pendent, north of the Williamsburg road, in rear of the 101st Regiment; Capt. Butler 
Fitch's 8th New York Independent Batterj- was placed in rear of the rifle-pits, two guns 
south and four guns north of the redoubt. This is what is known as Casey's intrenched 
line, although the rifle-pits did not extend either north or south of the Williamsburg road 
more than 300 yards. 

Capt. Joseph Spratt's battery, Company H, 1st New York Artillerj'-, consisting of 
four ten-pounders, was advanced about 400 yards in advance of the rifle-pits, and unlim- 
bered for action immediately north of the Williamsburg road. This battery was supported 
on the right by the 104th Penna. and three companies of the 11th Maine; and later by a 
fragment of the 103d Penna. ; on the left by the 100th New York and the 92d New York, 
the right flank of the 100th resting a few yards south of the Williamsburg road. The 81st 
New York was deployed on the extreme left of the advanced line to protect the left flank, 
and the 98th New York was deployed a short distance to the right of the 81st and the 
96th New York, and two companies of the 103d Penna. were advanced to guard the gap 
between the 92d and 98th New York Regiments. The 52d Penna., 56th New York and 
seven companies of the 11th Maine were isolated from the main body of the division, and 
did not come under the direction of Gen. Casey at any time during the battle. Two com- 
panies of the 52d Penna. were on fatigue duty with the pioneers of the division at the 
Chickahominy river, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Hoyt of that regiment, and the 
remainder of the regiment was either on picket, or supporting the picket line between the 
Nine-miles road and the Chickahominy. Seven companies of the 11th Maine were on picket 



152 CASEY'S DIVISION 

duty, four companies near the railroad, and three companies on the extreme right, extending 
to the Chickahominy river. The 56th New York, in rear of the picket line, 200 yards south 
of the railroad. 

The 100th and 92d New York Regiments, south of the road, moved up to the eastern 
border of the abatis, some little distance in advance of the position of Spratt's guns. The 
104th Penna. at first took position along the edge of the woods, in rear and north of 
Spratt's guns, but was moved forward in advance of the battery, but some distance to the 
right; the three companies of the 11th Maine and fragment of the 103d Penna. deploying 
on its left. 

The picket line where it crossed the Williamsburg road was three-fourths of a mile 
in advance of the redoubt, and about a half mile in advance of Casey's first line of battle. 
By the time Maj. Gazzam, who was in command of the 103d Penna. Regiment, received the 
command to take his regiment to the support of the pickets, the firing had become quite 
brisk, and no time was lost in rushing the men forward in double quick order. The regi- 
ment was hurriedly placed in line about fifty yards in rear of the picket line, immediately 
north of the Williamsburg road, with two companies, B and G, under command of Capt. 
G. W. Gillespie, south of the road, to protect the left flank. The pickets having had strict 
orders to maintain their position, unless attacked by an overwhelming force, still retained 
their advanced posts, firing with great rapidity, checking the advance of the enemy's skirmish 
until the regiments of the attacking brigade were brought into line of battle to support them. 
Before Maj. Gazzam had succeeded in properly aligning his regiment, which, owing to the 
heavy undergrowth and briers in the woods, was a difficult task, the enemy opened a terrific 
fire on the pickets, the full effect of which fell upon the 103d. This was immediately 
returned, the regiment maintaining its position until flanked on the right, when it was 
ordered to fall back slowly, again making a stand on a road through the woods, which 
was nearly perpendicular to the Williamsburg road. However, only two or three volleys 
had been fired from this position, when Capt. Laughlin, who commanded Company A, 
noticed the enemy closing in on the right flank; he called down the line for the men to 
fall back as rapidly as they could, Maj. Gazzam repeating the command. The dense and 
tangled condition of the undergrowth prevented the regiment from falling back in any 
kind of order, and before it emerged from the woods it was broken into fragments. How- 
ever, Capts. Gillespie, Mackey and Laughlin succeeded in rallying about one hundred men 
and formed them on the left flank of the 11th Maine, immediately to the right of Spratt's 
battery, where they remained until the first line was driven back. 

The attack on Casey's division was made by Longstreet's command of ten brigades, 
the division of Gen. D. H. Hill leading, consisting of four brigades. Garland's brigade, 
which led the advance north of the Williamsburg road, comprised the following regiments : 
2d Florida, 2d Miss. Battalion, 5th North Carolina, 23d North Carolina, 24th Virginia, and 
38th Virginia. Attached to this brigade was the JeflF Davis Battery of Artillery, from 
Alabama, commanded by Capt. J. W. Bondurant. (It was evidently this battery that fired 
the signal guns.) Garland's brigade was closely followed by Featherstone's brigade, com- 
manded by Col. George B. Anderson, of the 4th North Carolina regiment, which consisted 
of the following regiments : 27th and 28th Georgia, 4th North Carolina, and 49th Virginia. 
South of the road the advance attack was made by Rodes' brigade, which embraced the 
following regiments : 5th, 6th, and 12th Alabama ; 12th Miss., and 4th Virginia Battalion. 
Attached to this brigade was Carter's Battery of Artillery. Closely following Rodes' 
brigade was Rains' brigade, consisting of four regiments, as follows : 13th and 26th Ala- 
bama, and 6th and 23d Georgia. 

Garland's brigade was the first to receive the fire of the pickets, and it was this 
brigade that was closing in on the right flank of the 103d Penna. in the woods, and which 
succeeded in driving it back and finally routing it. When it reached the edge of the woods, 
it met a terrific fire from Spratt's battery, from the guns in Casey's redoubt, and from the 
infantry supporting Spratt's battery, and it was forced to a halt until Anderson's brigade 
reenforced it. South of the road, Rodes' brigade of four regiments and a battalion, soon 
reenforced by Rain's brigade of four regiments, made its appearance and formed in line 



AT SEVEN PINES. 153 

along the western side of the abatis, returning the fire it was receiving from Casey's men 
on the east side of the abatis. The Confederates on both sides of the road sought the 
protection of the fallen trees and stumps of the abatis, and were gradually penetrating it, 
when Gen. Casey gave an order for the regiments supporting the advance battery to charge, 
which was done, but at such a terrific sacrifice that the line both north and south of the 
road was soon thereafter overpowered and routed. Before leaving this position, however, 
four line officers of the 92d New York were wounded, three line officers of the 98th New 
York were disabled and two line officers of the 100th New York were killed and three 
wounded; these casualties occurred south of the Williamsburg road. North of the road, 
the 103d Penna. had one line officer killed; the 11th Maine (only three companies present, 
aggregating 93 men) had one line officer killed and three wounded ; the 104th Penna. had 
one line officer killed, and the two field officers present, disabled, the major, John M. Gries, 
mortally wounded, dying a few days subsequently; the colonel, W. W. H. Davis, wounded 
m the left elbow and left breast, and four line officers wounded. Capt. Spratt and Lieut. 
John H. Howell, of Company H, 1st New York Artillery, were wounded early in the 
action, the command of the battery devolving upon First Lieut. C. E. Mink, assisted by 
Second Lieut. E. H. Qark. The regiments engaged in Casey's first line of battle, which 
was nearly a mile in advance of Gen. Couch's line, lost 8 officers killed, 28 wounded; and 
91 men killed, 479 wounded, and 243 captured or missing; yet this line of battle is entirely 
ignored in Gen. Keyes' official report, and also in the official report of Gen. McClellan. 
Owing to the horses being killed, and the miry condition of the ground, making it im- 
possible for the men to haul it, one gim of Spratt's battery had to be abandoned to the 
enemy. From the beginning of the attack on Casey's first line, the six guns in the redoubt, 
Company A, 1st New York Artillery, commanded by Lieut. Hart, and Capt. Fitch's 8th 
New York Independent Battery were in continuous action, firing with rapidity and pre- 
cision, under the personal supervision of Col. Bailey, Chief of Artillery of Casey's division. 
These batteries opened fire on the woods in advance of the abatis as soon as the 103d 
Penna. emerged from the woods, and when the enemy came in sight, playd havoc with 
his ranks. 

When the advanced line was driven back, the 96th New York and Companies F and 
I of the 103d Penna. formed in rear of the rifle-pits south of the redoubt, between a detach- 
ment of the 103d Penna. and the 85th New York; the 98th New York took position behind 
the rifle-pits, to the left of the 85th New York; the 81st New York took position in the 
woods south of Palmer's camp. 

The 104th Penna. and 11th Maine retired on the right and made a halt at their 
camp, while the 92d and 100th New York Regiments were so broken up and scattered that 
only small fragments were rallied at the intrenched line. 

Spratt's battery and the advanced line gone, the enemy now concentrated his fire and 
attention to the insignificant earthworks. Twice the enemy charged on the redoubt and 
was forced to fall back to the abatis for protection, once approaching within 30 or 40 
yards. After repeated assaults on the 85th and 101st Penna. Regiments, on the right of 
the redoubt, the enemy moved on the right flank, when Companies A and F were quickly 
deployed by Lieut. Sheaflfer, of Company A, parallel with the Williamsburg road, checking 
the advance of the enemy from that direction, until he was heavily reenforced, when his 
enfilading fire became too heavy, and the regiment was compelled to retire, but not until 
after the commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. D. B. Morris, had been borne from the field 
severely wounded. The enemy advancing on the left flank and in front at the same time, 
the entire intrenched line was compelled to give way. At this juncture Col. Bailey was 
killed by a rifle ball piercing his brain as he was directing the guns in the redoubt to be 
spiked ; the horses of the battery having been killed or disabled. 

Some commotion prevailed when Wessells' brigade retired from the intrenchments. 
However, Gens. Casey and Wessells assisted the officers in rallying the men, forming a 
line south of the road in the abatis, east of Wessells' camp, from which point they delivered 
a murderous fire on the enemy until they were flanked and overwhelmed, when they were 
again compelled to retire through the abatis. In falling back through the abatis great 



154 CASEY'S DIVISION 

confusion ensued, and the various commands intermingled, so that it was difficult to preserve 
the identity of the respective regiments. However, Col. Howell, of the 85th Penna., rallied 
quite a force, and charged through the camp of the brigade, forcing the enemy to retire 
from the rifle-pits, but was soon driven back by overwhelming numbers. 

After Col. Bailey fell, Maj. Van Valkenburgh assumed command of the artillery. 
With great difficulty, owing to its horses being killed and disabled by the enemy's fire, the 
six gurs of the 8th New York Independent Battery and three guns of Spratt's battery 
were taken to the rear, after having done as effective and heroic work as was performed 
by any batteries during the war. The same statement will apply with equal force to Battery 
A, the guns of which later fell into the hands of the enemy. 

The 7th New York Independent Battery was in position on the right of the road, in 
rear of the 101st Penna., which compelled its guns to remain silent. Although not per- 
mitted to fire during the first two or three hours of the battle, it was compelled to remain 
under a severe fire, losing both men and horses. When it became evident that the troops 
along the intrenchments would give way, Maj. Van Valkenburgh ordered the battery to fall 
back and take a position commanding the Williamsburg road. Two guns were placed in 
the road and four in the field north of the road, and a rapid fire was kept up until the 
enemy was within a few yards of the battery. Shortly after giving an order for the four 
guns in the field to limber up, Maj. Van Valkenburgh was killed, while between the two 
gtms in action on the road. The two guns on the road remained in action until the pieces 
in the field were extricated and removed, the wheels of the carriages having become so 
mired in the soft ground in the field that these four guns were saved with great difficulty. 
One of the pieces on the road fired, retiring by prolonge, while the other five were going 
to the rear. In retiring with this piece, Capt. Regan, now the senior officer of Casey's artil- 
lery, and in command, acted as gunner. None of the guns of this battery was lost, but two 
caissons, the battery wagon and forge were abandoned, owing to the horses being killed; 
however, with the exception of one caisson limber, all were recovered. Considering the 
enormous loss of horses in Casey's artillery, the miry condition of the ground, and the 
overwhelming force of the enemy, it was a remarkable feat to save fifteen of the twenty-two 
guns of the division. Capt. Fitch's battery, 8th New York Independent, went into action 
in rear of Couch's line and did effective service before Couch's troops gave way. The 
final action of the division in the action of May 31 can be best described in the words 
of the commanding general of the division : 

"On my arrival at the second line, I succeeded in rallying a small portion of my 
division, and with the assistance of Gen. Kearny, who had just arrived at the head of one 
of the brigades of his division, attempted to regain possession of my works, but it was 
found impracticable." 

According to the official reports of the three brigade commanders, the actual icrce of 
the division in action was less than 4,253 men. The official reports show the casualties to 
be: Officers killed, 14; wounded, 55; captured or missing, 9; total casualties among the 
officers, 78; enlisted men killed, 163; wounded, 872; captured or missing, 316; total casualties 
among the enlisted men, 1,351; aggregate loss, 1,429. 

It may appear on the face of the returns that the captured and missing percentage is 
inordinately large in proportion to the number killed. It should be remembered that these 
reports were made immediately after the battle, when all the records were lost, and were, 
at best, imperfect; that the battle was fought over a large area of ground, a great part of 
it wooded, and that the enemy had possession of the field for two days ; and that many 
of those marked captured or missing were killed or left on the field mortally wounded. 
The record of one regiment, the 103d Penna., will illustrate this point. The official report 
of the casualties at the battle of Fair Oaks gives the aggregate loss of this regiment as 93, 
as follows : Killed, 1 officer and 7 men ; wounded, 2 officers and 67 men ; captured or 
missing, 1 officer and 15 men. The final papers in the auditor-general's office of the War 
Department show that 2 officers and 33 enlisted men of this regiment were killed in action 
or died of wounds received in the battle of Fair Oaks. This indicates that 37.6 per cent 
of the casualties of the reg^"ment were fatal, instead of B.6 per cent, as shown by the 



AT SEVEN PINES. 155 

official report. If the mortality of casualties of the division was as great in proportion as 
in this regiment, it would be 773. However, the conditions surrounding this regiment 
were different from the other regiments. It first received the fire of the enemy a half 
mile in advance of the first line of battle, (and yet more than two-thirds of Casey's division 
were nearly a mile in advance, and the other third over half a mile in advance of the 
second line of battle) and the wounded who were left on the advanced battle-ground were 
in the hands of the enemy for practically two full days. The official report made by the 
commanding officer of the 103d Penna. was made on June 2, before the advance battle- 
ground had been explored, and there is not much doubt that the casualty reports from 
every regiment of Casey's division was made before there had been any return from the 
battle-field of Saturday. It is, therefore, safe to estimate the mortality at least at 50 per 
cent of what careful investigation shows the increased mortality to be over that at first 
reported. On this basis the total mortality of Casey's division at the battle of Fair Oaks 
would be 330. The brigade commanders estimate the number of officers and men in action 
on the 31st of May as about 4,250. This makes the mortality more than 7% per cent of 
those engaged, the aggregate casualties being over 33V^ per cent. 

In an address by Maj.-Gen. D. H. Hill, whose division routed Casey's troops at Fair 
Oaks, at the reunion of the Virginia Division, Army of the Northern Virginia Association, 
in the State Capitol of Virginia, on the 22d day of October, 1885. he said: 

"The battle of Seven Pines was a fine illustration of the prowess of untrained, 
untutored and undisciplined soldiers. The great battles of Europe, in which veterans were 
engaged, show a loss of from one-tenth to one-fourth of those engaged. At Seven Pines 
our raw troops lost one-third of their number without flinching, moving steadily on to 
victory. The true test of the loss in battle is the number of casualties before shouts of 
triumph rend the sky; for it has often happened that the chief loss of the defeated has been 
from the murderous fire upon their disorganized, unresisting and huddled together masses. 
This has always been so when the defeat has been the result of a flank movement, or when 
a brilliant cavalrv charge has followed up the rout." (Southern Historical Society Papers, 
Vol. 13, page 266.) 

There has been a wonderful diversity of statements as to when the battle of Fair 
Oaks began. Some of these differences are due as to when the firing assumed the pro- 
portions of a battle. Gen. Keyes speaks with some positiveness on this point, as he repeats 
the statement in his official report, saying: "At about 12:30 P. M. it became suddenly 
apparent that the attack was real and in great force." In another paragraph he says : 
"Casey's division, holding the front line, was first seriously attacked at about 12 :30 P. M." 
Prior to this, in his report, he says : "Having sent orders for the troops to be under arms 
precisely at 11 o'clock A. M., I mounted my horse and rode along the Nine-miles road to Fair 
Oaks Station. * * * Finding nothing unusual at Fair Oaks, I gave some orders to the 
troops, and returned quickly to Seven Pines. The firing was becoming brisk, but there was 
yet no certainty of a great attack." The writer has knowledge which convinces him that Gen. 
Keyes was somewhat confused as to his statements as to how the firing began and will refer 
to it at another place. However, his statement as to the beginning of the battle is approxi- 
mately correct. In another paragraph of his report he says : "Casey's division held its line 
of battle for more than three hours, and the execution done upon the enemy was shown 
by the number of rebel dead left upon the field after the enemy had held possession of that 
part of it for upward of twenty-four hours." He also says that Gen. Heintzelman arrived 
on the field about 3 P. M. The latter says in his report that on reaching the front he 
found Casey's position was lost, but he makes no statement as to the time of day it was 
when he arrived, but he infers that the arrival of Kearny's troops was simultaneous with 
his. That would clearly indicate the time at about 4 o'clock. Gen. Keyes, in his book, 
"Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events," published in 1884, admits he made an error 
in stating the time of Gen. Heintzelman's arrival, and places the time at 4 o'clock, not five 
minutes either way from that hour. Whatever the hour of the attack, it was fully three 
hours later when the enemy captured the redoubt. Gen. Hill was approximately correct 
when he said "the works were captured at 3 o'clock." Casey's troops fought for some 
time after falling back from the intrenchments, before retiring to Couch's line; that is, a 



156 CASEY'S DIVISION 

portion of them did. There is abundant evidence to substantiate this paragraph from Gen. 
Wessells' report : 

"The 85th (Penna.) and 96th (New York) having fallen back, were again formed 
on the left of the road in rear of the camp in the fallen timber and delivered 
their fire with great effect, but being again flanked and overwhelmed, were compelled again 
to retire. The right wing of the lOIst (Penna.), after retiring deployed to the left, and 
passing the left wing, opened its fire, and for some time maintained its position, but at 
length was compelled to fall back." CO. R. Ser. I. Vol. XI, part I, p. 927). 

It is not the purpose of this article to give a detailed account of the battle of Fair 
Oaks or Seven Pines. However, to fully answer the aspersions cast upon Casey's division 
it will be necessary to call attention to the conduct of the troops comprising the other di- 
visions participating in the battle. It should be remembered that in the commanding gen- 
eral's dispatch censuring Casey's division, unstinted praise was given to all the other troops 
engaged in the battle. With but very few exceptions, the newspaper accounts sent from 
the Army of the Potomac, while exaggerating all the camp gossip detrimental to Casey's 
troops, were silent as to any questionable conduct of the troops belonging to the other 
divisions. This is practically true of most of the histories and sketches written of the bat- 
tle. The excerpts from the official reports and documents submitted here are not garbled 
and cover all the essential features of the battle. The writer does not intend to reflect 
upon the conduct of the troops of other divisions engaged in the battle; the official reports 
can tel! the story : 

From report of Gen. McClellan : 

"On the 28th Gen. Keyes was ordered to advance Casey's division to Fair Oaks, on 
the Williamsburg road, some three-quarters of a mile in front of the Seven Pines, leaving 
Gen. Couch's division at the line of rifle-pits. A new line of rifle-pits and a small redoubt 
for six field guns were commenced, and much of the timber in front of this line was 
felled on the two days following. ********** The picket line was 
established, reachincr from the Chickahominy to White Oak Swamp. On the 30th, Gen. 
Heintzelman * * * advanced two brigades of Kearny's division about the fourth of a 
mile in front of Savage Station * * * within supporting distance of Casey's division 
* * * On the 30th the troops on the south side of the Chickahominy were in position 
as follows: Casey's division on the right of the Williamsburg road, at right angles to it; 
the center at Fair Oaks ; Couch's division at the Seven Pines ; Kearny's division on the 
railroad from near Savage Station toward the bridge ; Hooker's division on the borders of 
VVhite Oak Swamp. * * * The enemy * * * threw an overwhelming force (grand 
divisions of Gens. D. H. Hill, Huger, Longstreet, and G. W. Smith) upon the position 
occupied by Casey's division. * * * Between 11 and 12 o'clock it was reported to Gen. 
Casey that the enemy were approaching in considerable force on the Williamsburg road. 
At this time Casey's division was disposed as follows : Naglee'i brigade extending from 
the Williamsburg road to the Garnett field, having one regiment across the railroad; Gen. 
Wessells' brigade in the rifle-pits, and Gen. Palmers' in the rear of Gen. Wessells' ; one bat- 
tery of artillerv in advance with Gen. Naglee; one battery in rear of rifle-pits to the 
right of the redoubt ; one battery in reir of the redoubt, and another battery unharnessed, 
in the redoubt. Gen. Couch's division, holdinir the second line, had Gen. Abercrombie's 
brigade on the right along the Nine-mile road, with two regiments and one battery across 
the railroad near Fair Oaks Station; Gen. Peck's brigade on the right, and Gen. Deven's 
in the center. On the approach of the enemy, Gen. Casey sent forward one of Gen. Palmer's 
regiments to support the picket line, but the regiment gave way without making much, if 
any, resistance. Heavy firing at once commenced and the pickets were driven in. Gen. 
Keyes ordered Gen. Couch to move Gen. Peck's brigade to occupy the ground on the 
left of the Williamsburg road, which had not before been occupied by our forces, and 
Jthus to support Gen. Casey's left where the first attack was the most severe. The 
enemy now came on in heavy force, attacking Gen. Casey simultaneously in 
front and both flanks. Gen. Keyes sent to Gen. Heintzelman for reenforcc- 
ments, but the messenger was delayed, so that orders were not sent to Gens. 
Kearny and Hooker until nearly 3 o'clock, and it was nearly 5 P. M. when 
Gens. Jameson and Berry's brigades, of Gen. Kearny's division, arrived on the field. * * * 
In the meantime Geru Naglee's brigade, with the batteries of Gen. Casey's division, which 
Gen. Naglee directed, struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle-pits against 
the overwhelming masses of the enemy. They were reenforced by a regiment from Gen. 
Peck's brigade. The artillery, under command of Col. G. D. Bailey, 1st New York Artillery, 
and afterward of Gen. Naglee, did good execution on the advancing column. The left of 
this position was, however, soon turned, and a sharp cross-fire opened upon the gunners 



AT SEVEN PINES. 157 

and men in the rifle pits. Col. Bailey, Maj. Van Valkenburgh, and Adjt. Rumsey, of the 
same regiment, were killed; some of the guns in the redoubt were taken, and the whole 
line was driven back upon the position occupied by Gen. Couch. The brigades of Gens. 
Wessells and Palmer, with the reenforcements which had been sent them from Gen. 
Couch, had also been driven from the field with heavy loss, and the whole position occupied 
by Gen. Casey's division was taken by the enemy. Previous to this time Gen. Keyes 
ordered Gen. Couch to advance two regiments to relieve the pressure upon Gen. Casey's 
right flank. * * * Xhis was followed up by a bayonet charge, led by Gen. French 
in person * * * which turned the confusion of the enemy into precipitate flight. One 
gun captured the previous day was retaken. Our troops pushed forward as far as the 
lines held by them on the 31st, before the attack. On the battle-field there were found 
many of our own and the Confederate wounded, arms, caissons, wagons, subsistence 
stores, and forage abandoned by the enemy in his rout. The state of the roads and im- 
possibility of maneuvering artillery prevented further pursuit. On the next morning a 
reconnoissance was sent forward, which pressed back the pickets of the enemy to within 
5 miles of Richmond ; but again the impossibility of forcing even a few batteries forward 
precluded our holding permanently this position. The lines held previous to the battle 
were therefore resumed. * * * Our loss was in Gen. Sumner's corps, 1,223; Gen. 
Heintzelman's corps, 1,394; Gen. Keyes' corps, 3,120; total, 5,737. 

Previous to the arrival of Gen. Sumner on the field of battle, on the 31st of 
May, Gen. Heintzelman, the senior corps commander present, was in the immedi- 
ate command of the forces engaged. The first information I received that the battle was 
in progress was a dispatch from him stating that Casey's division had given way. During 
the night of the 31st I received a dispatch from him, dated 8 :45 P. M., in which he says : 
'I am just in. When I got to the front the most of Geru Casey's division had dispersed. 
* * * The rout of Gen. Casey's men had a most dispiriting effect on the troops as 
they came up. I saw no reason why we should have been driven back.' This official state- 
ment, together with other accounts received previous to my arrival upon the battle-field, 
to the effect that Casey's division had given way without making proper resistance, caused 
me to state in a telegram to the Secretary of War on the 1st, that this division 'gave way 
unaccountably and discreditably.' Subsequent investigations, however, greatly modified the 
impressions first received, and I accordingly advised the Secretary of War of this in a dis- 
patch on the 5th of June. The official reports of Gen Keyes, Casey, and Naglee show 
that a very considerable portion of this division fought well, and that the brigade of Gen. 
Naglee is entitled to credit for its gallantry. This diinsion, among the regiments of which 
were eight of comparatively new troops, was attacked by superior numbers ; yet, accord- 
ing to the reports alluded to, it stood the attack 'for three hours before it was reenforced.' 
A portion of the division was thrown into great confusion upon the first onslaught of the 
enemy, but the personal efforts of Gen Naglee, Col. Bailey, and other officers, who boldly 
went to the front and encouraged the men by their presence and example at this critical 
juncture rallied a great part of the division, and thereby enabled it to act a prominent 
part in this severely contested battle. It therefore affords me great satisfaction to with- 
draw the expression contained in my first dispatch, and I cordially give my indorsement to 
the conclusion of the division commander, 'that those parts of his command which behaved 
discreditably were exceptional cases.'" (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 38-43.) 

From Gen. McClellan's testimony before the Joint Congressional Committee on the 
Conduct of the War, March 2, 1863 : 

"The battle occurred, I think, on the last of May and the first of June. At the begin- 
ning of the battle Gen. Keyes' corps was encamped in the vicinity of Seven Pines ; Casey's 
division was in front ; Couch's division a short distance in the rear, on the main' road to 
Bottom's Bridge; Heintzelman's corps was on the same side of the Chickahominy, in the 
general vicinity of Savage's Station ; Sumner's corps was on the left bank, about half way 
between Bottom's Bridge and New Bridge; the corps of Franklin and Porter were also on 
the left bank of the Chickahominy, near New Bridge. The attack commenced on Casey's 
division, I think, about one o'clock. I was at the time confined to my bed by illness, and the 
first intimation I received of the affair was the sound of the musketry. Without waiting 
to hear from Gen. Keyes or Gen. Heintzelman, I sent instructions to Gen. Sumner to hold 
his corps in readiness to move to the scene of action. I did not hear anything for a long 
time from the field. I think the first I heard was from Gen. Heintzelman, who reported 
that Casey's division had been completely broken and was in full retreat. I ordered Sumner 
over as soon as I learned that his services were needed and the affair serious. The main part 
of his force crossed at the bridge near Dr. Trent's farm, and moved by the shortest route 
upon Fair Oaks, near which point he came in contact with the enemy's left, and drove them 
some little distance, thus relieving the pressure upon the right of Heintzelman, who had 
moved up to support Keyes. The enemy renewed the attack on Sunday morning, but with 
much less vigor than the day before. Question. 'What was the strength of the left wing 
of your army — that part of the army which was on the right bank of the Chickahominy at 



158 CASEY'S DIVISION 

that time?' Answer. 'Without the returns I could merely guess at it. There were four 
divisions — one a very weak one. I should think the four divisions must have had 30,000 
men, perhaps.'" (Report Conduct of the War, part I, pp. 432-433.) 

From Gen. Heintzelman's report (comdg. Third Corps; also all the troops south of 
the Chickahominy, May 31) : 

"About 1 P. M. I first heard firing, more than there had been for several days. 
* * * At 2 P. M. I received a note from Lieut. Jackson, of Gen. Keyes' staff, informing 
me that the enemy were pressing them very hard, especially on the railroad, and asking 
me to send two brigfades. * * * On this I sent orders for a brigade to advance up the 
railroad as a support. The one selected by Gen. Kearny was Gen. Birney's brigade. 
Previous to this I had received instructions from the commanding general to hold the 
Seven Pines at all hazards, but not to move the troops guarding the approaches of Bot- 
tom's Bridge and crossing of the White Oak Swamp, unless it became absolutely necessary 
to hold the position in front at the Seven Pines. Believing the position in front of the 
Seven Pines to be a critical one, and not having entire confidence in the raw troops com- 
prising the division of Gen. Casey, I sought and obtained permission on Friday afternoon 
to advance a portion of my corps from its position near Bottom's Bridge. The order was 
to make such disposition of the troops of my corps as I saw fit. * * * 
Lieuts. Hunt and Johnson returned about 2 :30 P. M., having seen Gen. Keyes. by whom 
they were directed to report that his front line, which was held by Casey's division, was 
being driven in. The road from the front was at this time filled with fugitives. I mounted 
my horse and rode briskly to the front. * * * I had already given orders for all the 
available troops to advance. * * * On reaching the front, I met our troops fiercely 
engaged * * * near the Seven Pines, having lost the first position, three-fourths of a 
mile in advance. * * * Our reenforcements now began to arrive. * * * This brought 
the time to about 5 o'clock, at which hour the enemy received a reenforcement of a division, 
and began to drive our troops out of the woods on the right of the road. The fire had 
increased so much that I went to the left to order two * * * regiments to support 
this line. I met them coming. * * * They went into the woods, but, together with the 
troops already there, were driven out by the overwhelming masses of the enemy. Gen. 
Jameson rode across to rally them, but was met by a volley from the enemy. * * * 
Their exertions, however, partially rallied the retiring regiments, and they fell back 
fighting. This brought us into a narrow strip of wood along the main road. With the 
assistance of my staff and other officers, we succeeded in rallying fragments of regiments 
to the number of about 1,800 men. * * * A new line was formed in some unfinished 
rifle-pits about one-half mile in rear, and occupied by the troops of Gens. Couch's and 
Kearny's divisions, and such troops of Gen. Casey as could be collected. When the troops 
on the right of the road near the Seven Pines gave way the enemy pushed several regi- 
ments across the main road, placing them between Gen. Berry's brigade, part of Jameson's, 
and the portion of our troops who gave way from the right of the road. * * * The 
defensive works of Gen. Casey's position, in consequence of the increasing rains and the 
short time allowed him for labor with trenching tools, were in a very unfinished state, 
and could oppose but a feeble resistance to the overwhelming mass thrown upon them. 
The artillery was well served, and some of the regiments fought gallantly until over- 
whelmed by numbers. After they were once broken they could not be rallied. The road 
was filled with fugitives (not all from this division) as far as Bottom's Bridge. * * * 
A guard placed at Bottom's Bridge stopped over 1,000 men. An officer informed me that 
after we had driven the enem}' beyond our first intrenchments he visited Gen. Casey's 
camp and found more men bayoneted and shot within their shelter tents than outside 
of them. As Gen. Casey in his report has not designated tjie regiments who did not 
behave well, I do not feel called upon to mention them. The 104th Penna., 100th and 
92d New York, and 11th Maine, Gen. Casey says, made a charge on the enemy under 
his eye and by his express orders that would have honored veteran troops. The 101st 
Penna. and 86th (evidently 85th) New York fought well. There is one statement in 
Gen. Palmer's report which it is necessary to notice. No portion of Gen. Hooker's division 
was engaged on Saturday. * * * The heavy loss in Gen. Kearny's division will attest 
how much his division felt the enemy. After Gen. Kearny's division arrived on the field 
our forces did not fall back a third of a mile before they checked the enemy. The next 
day they drove them back, and before night a portion of Sickles' brigade * * * occupied 
at least a portion of Gen. Casey's camps. * * * Couch's. Casey's and Kearny's divisions 
on the field numbered but 18,500 men. Deducting from this force Casey's division, 5.000 
dispersed when I came on the field, and Birney's 2,300 not engaged, we. with less than 
11,000 men, after a struggle of three and a half hours, checked the enemy's heavy masses. 
When I arrived on the field. I met Samuel Wilkeson, Esq., the chief correspondent of the 
New York Tribune. I accepted his services as volunteer aid, and I wish to bear testimony 
to his gallantry and coolness during the battle. When the rebel reenforcements arrived, 
about 5 o'clock P. M., and our troops commenced to give way, he was conspicuous in the 



SCA,\.t OV M\\.tS 



CONFEDERATE 




The above map. which gives the position of the troops of both armies prior to the battle 
of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks, appeared in the "Century War Series," and in "Battles and 
Leaders of the Civil War." By courtesy of the Century Company this and other sketches 
bearing on this battle are reproduced in this volume. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 159 

throng aiding in rallying the men. * * * The greatest distance the enemy, with their 
overwhelming numbers, claim to have driven us back is but a mile and a half. The 
distance was less. * * * In every instance in which our troops used the bayonet our 
loss was comparatively light, and the enemy was driven back, suffering heavily. Our troops 
pushed as far forward as the battle-field of the previous day. * * * On the next morn- 
ing I sent forward Gen. Hooker * * * to make a reconnaissance, which he did in a 
most gallant manner far beyond the position we had on Saturday. In the after- 
noon our troops fell back and occupied the positions we held before the battle. Our loss 
on the first day was seven pieces of artillery from Gen. Casey s division and one * * * 
from Gen. Couch's. As the enemy * * * was driven bacK with immense loss, * * * 
we may well claim a victory, and such it certainly was. (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, 
pp. 813-818.) 

From Gen. Heintzelman's testimony before the Joint Congressional Committee on the 
Conduct of the War : 

"Saturday, the 31st of May, was the first day of the battle of Seven Pines During 
the week before I had felt that the troops were too much scattered; but as I had positive 
orders to keep a certain number of them at and around Bottom's Bridge and watching 
White Oak Swamp, I did not venture to move them without authority from Gen. McL-lelian 
After repeated efforts, I got authority on Friday afternoon to dispose of the troops as 1 
saw fit. I immediately ordered them all forward with the exceptiori of half of Hooker s 
division. I was ordered to leave one brigade there to hold those positions. 

"The next day the 31st of May, about l o'clock, there was considerable heavy firing of 
artillery and musketry. As zve had it before, it did not cause me much uneasiness, until I 
found it was continued. * * * A few minutes after they left I got a note frorn Gen. 
Keyes, informing me that the enemy had attacked him in considerable force, and asking me 
to send a brigade or two up the railroad to assist him. In a few minutes more my statt 
officers returned and informed me that the enemy had driven back some of our troops. 
I at once rode forward. Before I had got a mile, at the edge of the cleared ground m front, 
I met the fugitives from Casey's division retreating I rode to the front saw Gen. l^eyes, 
and got all the information I could from him. Before this, however, I had ordered the 
troops forward, and as they came up I placed them in position. We had then lost our 
advanced position. All the troops had been driven back, and Gen. Casey had lost several 
pieces of artillery. When the troops I had ordered up came into position, they checked the 
enemy In a little while, however, they attacked us again with an overwhelming force on 
our right Hank and that began to give way. They drove us back from a half to three- 
quarters of a mile, when we finally checked them. About this time Gen. Sumner s corps 
had crossed the Chickahominy, and came in on our right, and aided us in repulsing the 
enemy. As soon as I had found the attack was serious I had sent an officer over to 
inform Gen. Sumner and Gen. McClellan. * * * There was one brigade of Gen. Case/s 
division, under Gen. Naglee, on our extreme right, that held its position pretty well. The 
center gave way and fell back some distance. We succeeded in ra lying them, and repulsed 
the enemy. My right held the ground until some time after dark, when it fell back and 
ioined us in the field-works we had thrown up a little west of the Chickahominy. In the 
nicht I got a telegram from Gen. McClellan, that he wanted to see me at the railroad station 
on the other side of the Chickahominy. I got on a locomotive and went down there and 
saw him I told him what had occurred and what we could do He said that he relied upon 
n^v holding the position we then occupied and that he would spend the night with Gen. 
Sumner o? come over the next morning, to keep rank off me, as he said Gen. Sumner 
ranked me. When I got back I got a note from Gen. Sumner, saying that from all he 
could learn he expected to be attacked by an overwhelming force in the morning and wanted 
me to assist him. I replied that any aid I could give him he should have. 

"In the morning I went to the front and had not been there long before I heard firing 
in the direction of Gen. Sumner's forces. I had the half of Gen. Hookers division there 
the other half was at Bottom's Bridge. I immediately sent that half division forward in 
the direction of the firing. Thev soon met the enemy, who were repulsed by Gen. Sumner s 
troops and mine. The whole affair was over in a very short time. . ^- • • 

"That day after the enemy gave way I gave orders to pursue them. Casey's division 
was utterly broken up. Some of the regiments behaved very gallantly but after they gave 
way none'^f them could be rallied; and Couch's division was a little shaky. When Kearny 
found out that I had ordered the troops to advance, he came to me and begged me to stop. 
Hfasked me where my supports were and I pointed to them. He asked me if I J^d con- 
fidence in them I said no. He said I had better let well enough alone; that Gen. McClellan 
wou"d irder^' general advance in two or three days. I then countermanded the order. 
The ne^t morning I learned the enemy had retreated in very great confusion and on Sunday 
we gained nealy all the ground we had lost the day before I sent Gen. Hooker s half 
division forward, and sent an officer to Gen. Richardson who commanded one of Gen. 
Sumner's Sons, and asked him to co-operate with us, and find out what the enemy were 



160 CASEY'S DIVISION 

doing. He saw Gen. Sumner but he said he could make no reconnoissance without orders 
from Gen. McClellan. I sent my troops forward and they got within four miles of Rich- 
mond. They sent word back how far they had got, and I sent word to Gen. McClellan. He 
ordered me to stop and fall back to the old lines. From information we got from the 
rebels, I had no doubt but we might have gone right into Richmond." (Report on the 
Conduct of the War, pp. 351-352.) 

From report of Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes (comdg. Fourth Corps). 

"The Fourth Corps, being in the advance, crossed the Chickahominy at Bottom's Bridge 
the 23rd of May, and encamped 2 miles beyond. Two days later I received orders to ad- 
vance on the Williamsburg road and take up and fortify the nearest strong position to 
a fork of roads called the Seven Pines. The camp I selected, and which was the next day 
approved by Maj.-Gen. McClellan, stretches across the Williamsburg road between Bot- 
tom's Bridge and the Seven Pines, and is distant about a mile from the latter. I caused 
that camp to be fortified with rifle pits and breastworks extending to the left about 1,000 
yards and terminating in a crotchet to the rear. Similar works about 300 yards farther in 
advance, were constructed on the right, extending toward the Richmond and West Point 
Railroad. 

"Having been ordered by Gen. McClellan to hold the Seven Pines strongly, I designed to 
throw forward to that neighborhood two brigades of Casey's division, and to establish 
my picket line considerably in advance and far to the right. The lines described above are 
those where the main body of the troops engaged near the Seven Pines spent the night of 
the 31st, after the battle. Examinations having been made by several eng^ineers, I was 
ordered on the 28th of May to advance Casey's division to a point indicated by a large 
wood pile and two houses, about three-fourths of a mile beyond the Seven Pines * * 
and to establish Couch's division at the Seven Pines. Accordingly Casey's division bivou- 
acked on the right and left of Williamsburg road and wood pile, and Couch established 
his division at the Seven Pines and along the Nine-mile road. Both divisions set to work 
with the few intrenching tools at hand to slash the forests and to dig a few rifle pits. Casey 
erected a small pent-angular redoubt and placed within it six pieces of artillery. The 
country is mostly wooded and greatly intersected with marshes. The Nine-mile road 
branching to the right from the Seven Pines slants forward, and at the distance of a 
mile crosses the railroad at Fair Oaks. A mile beyond it reaches an open field, where the 
enemy was seen in line of battle on the 29th and 30th days of May. 

"Casey's pickets were only about 1,000 yards in advance of his line of battle, and I de- 
cided, after a personal inspection with him, that they could go no farther, as they were 
stopped by the enemy in force on the opposite side of an opening at that point. * * * 

When the battle commenced Caaey's division was in front of the abatis ; Naglee's brigade 
on the right, having two regiments beyond the railroad; Palmer's brigade on the left, and 
Wessells' brigade in the center. Couch's division was on the right and left of the Williams- 
burg road, near the forks, and along the Nine-mile road. Peck's brigade was on the left, 
Devens' brigade in the center, and Abercrombie's on the right, having two regiments 
and Brady's battery across the railroad, near Fair Oaks, thus forming two lines of battle. 

Through all the night of the 30th of May there was raging a storm the like of which 
I cannot remember. Torrents of rain drenched the earth, the thunderbolts rolled and fell 
without intermission, and the heavens flashed with a perpetual blaze of lightning. From 
their beds of mud and the peltings of this storm the Fourth Corps rose to fight the battle 
of the 31st of May, 1862. At about 10 o'clock A. M., it was announced to me that an aide- 
de-camp of Maj. Gen. J. E. Johnston, C. S. Army, had been captured by our pickets on the 
edge of the field referred to above, beyond Fair Oaks Station. While speaking with the 
young gentleman, at the moment of sending him away, a couple of shots fired in front of 
Casey's headquarters produced in him a very evident emotion. I was perplexed, because 
having seen the enemy in force on the right where the aide was captured, I supposed his 
chief must be there. Furthermore, the country was more open in that direction and the 
road in front of Casey's position was bad for artillery. I concluded, therefore, in spite of 
the shots, that if attacked that day the attack would come from the right. Having sent 
orders for the troops to be under arms precisely at 11 o'clock A. M.. I mounted my horse 
and rode along the Nine-mile road to Fair Oaks Station. On my way I met Col. Bailey, 
chief of artillery of Casey's division, and directed him to proceed and prepare his artillery 
for action. Finding nothing unusual at Fair Oaks, I gave some orders to the troops there, 
and returned quickly to Seven Pines. The firing was becoming brisk, but there was yet 
no certainty of a great attack. As a precaution to support Casey's left flank, I ordered Gen. 
Couch to advance Peck's brigade in that direction. This was promptly done, and the 93rd 
Pennsylvania, Col. McCarter, was advanced considerably beyond the balance of that brigade. 
At about 12:30 P. M. it became suddenly apparent that the attack was real and in great 
force. All my corps was under arms and in position. I sent immediately to Gen. Heintzel- 
man for re-enforcements, and requested him to order one brigade up the railroad. My 
messenger was unaccountably delayed, and my dispatch appears not to have reached its 
destination till much later than it should have done. Gen. Heintzelman arrived on the 



AT SEVEN PINES. 161 

field at about 3 P. M., and the two brigades of his corps, Berry's and Jameson's, of Kear- 
ny's division, which took part in the battle of the 31st, arrived, successively, but the exact 
times of their arrival in the presence of the enemy I am unable to fix with certainty; and 
in this report I am not always able to fix times with exactness, but they are nearly exact. 

"Casey's division, holding the front line, was first seriously attacked at about 12 :30 P. 
M. The 103d Penna Vols., sent forward to support the pickets, broke shortly and re- 
treated, joined by a great many sick. The numbers as they passed down the road as strag- 
glers conveyed an exaggerated idea of surprise and defeat. There was no surprise how- 
ever. All the effective men of that di%nsion were under arms, and all the batteries were in 
position, with their horses harnessed (except some belonging to the guns in the redoubt), 
and ready to fight as soon as the enemy's forces came into view. Their numbers were 
vastly disproportionate to the mighty host which assailed them in front and on both flanks. 

"As remarked above, the picket line being only about 1,000 yards in advance of the 
line of battle and the country covered with forests, the Confederates, arriving fresh and 
confident, formed their lines and masses under the shelter of woods, and burst upon us 
with great suddenness, and had not our regiments been under arms they would have swept 
through our lines and routed us completely. As it was, however, Casey's division held its 
line of battle for more than three hours, and the execution done upon the enemy was shown 
by the number of rebel dead left upon the field after the enemy had held possession of that 
part of it for upward of twenty-four hours. 

"For the details of the conflict with Casey's line I must refer to his report, and to the 
reports of Brig.-Gens. Naglee, Palmer, and Wessells, whose activity I had many opportuni- 
ties to witness. When applied to for them, I sent re-enforcements to sustain Casey's line 
until the numbers were so much reduced in the second line that no more could be spared. 
I then refused, though applied to for further aid. 

"I shall now proceed to describe the operations of the second line, which received my 
uninterrupted supervision, composed principally of Couch's division, second line. As the 
pressure on Casey's division became greater he applied to me for re-enforcements. I con- 
tinued to send them as long as I had troops to spare. Col. McCarter, with the 93d Penna. 
Peck's Brigade, engaged the enemy on the left, and maintained his ground above two hours, 
until overwhelming numbers forced him to retire, which he did in good order. 

"At about 2 o'clock P. M. I ordered the 55th New York * '•' * to "save the guns," 
meaning some of Casey's. The regiment moved up the Williamsburg road at double-quick, 
conducted by Gen. Naglee, where it beat off the enemy, on the point of seizing some guns, 
and held its position more than an hour. * * * At a little past 2 o'clock I ordered Neill's 
23d and Rippey's 61st Penna. Regiments to move to the support of Casey's right. Neill 
attacked the enemy twice with great gallantry. In the first attack the enemy were driven 
back. In the second attack, and under the immediate command of Gen. Couch, these two 
regiments assailed a vastly superior force of the enemy and fought with extraordinary 
bravery, though compelled at last to retire. They brought in 35 prisoners. Both regiments 
were badly cut up. Col. Rippey, of the 61st, and his adjutant, were killed. The lieutenant- 
colonel and major were wounded and are missing. The casualties in the 61st amount to 263, 
and are heavier than in any other regiment in Couch's division. After this attack the 23rd 
took part in the hard fighting which closed the day near the Seven Pines. The 61st with- 
drew in detachments, some of which came again into action near my headquarters. 

"Almost immediately after ordering the 23d and 61st to support the right, and as soon 
as they could be reached, I sent the 7th Mass., and 62d New York, to re-enforce them. The 
overpowering advance of the enemy obliged these regiments to proceed to Fair Oaks, where 
they fought under the immediate orders of Gens. Couch and Abercrombie. There they 
joined the 1st U. S. Chasseurs, previously ordered to that point, and the 31st Penna. on 
duty there when the action commenced. 

"At the time when the enemy was concentrating troops from the right, left and front 
upon the redoubt and other works in the front of Casey's headquarters and near the Wil- 
liamsburg road the danger became imminent that he would overcome the resistance there 
and advance down the road and through the abatis. * * * After seeing the 10th Mass. 
and the adjoining line well at work under a murderous fire I obsen'ed that that portion 
of the line 150 yards to my left was crumbling away, some falling and others retiring. I 
perceived also that the artillery had withdrawn, and that large bodies of broken troops 
were leaving the center and moving down the Williamsburg road to the rear. Assisted by 
Capt. Suydam, Capt. de Villarceau, and Lieuts. Jackson and Smith, of my staff, ( tried in 
vain to check the retreating current. 

"Passing through to the opening of our intrenched camps of the 28th ultimo, I found 
Gen. Heintcelman and other officers engaged in rallying the men, and^ in a very short time 
a large number were induced to face about. * * * The last line, formed of portions of 
Couch's and Casey's divisions and a portion of Kearny's division, checked the advance of 
the enemy and finally repulsed him, and this was the beginning of the victory which on 
the following day was so gloriously completed. 

"The reports of divisions and brigade commanders I trust will be published with this 
immediately, I ask their publication as an act of simple justice to the Fourth Corps, 



162 CASEY'S DIVISION 

against which many groundless aspersions and incorrect statements have been circulated in 
the newspapers since the battle. These reports are made by men who observed the con- 
flict while under fire, and if they are not in the main true, the truth will never be known." 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 872-878.) 

From Gen. Keyes' testimony before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct 
of the War, May 28, 1863 : 

"On the 28th of May I received this communication: Camp 2 miles from Bottom's 
Bridge, May 28, 1862. General: The brigadier-general desires you to order Brig.-Gen. 
Casey to move forward his division to the clearing by two houses and a woodpile, about 
three-quarters of a mile in advance of his present position, and to fortify it. He also 
desires you to move Gen. Couch's division forward to the Seven Pines. These movements 
to be made at 6 a. m. tomorrow morning. He wishes you to direct Gen. Casey to complete 
the approaches to the bridge he is building over the Chickahominy river." * * * It is 
signed by Chauncey McKeever as chief of staff to Gen. Heintzelman. I thought the arrange- 
ment thus ordered a very bad one, and I expressed my objections several times and I 
received this note from Gen. Heintzelman : 'Head-Quars. Left Wing, etc.. May 29, 1862. 
General : The brigadier-general commanding instructs me to say that he moves forward 
a brigade of Gen. Kearny's division this morning to a position not over two miles from 
the Seven Pines. In case of an attack Gen. Kearny's division could reinforce you in half 
an hour. * * * The position occupied by your corps was selected by Gen. Barnard and 
Lieut. Comstock, of the engineers, and instructions to occupy it came from Maj.-Gen. 
McClellan. The major-general commanding has also directed that the Third Corps shall 
not be moved forward, unless to prevent yours from being driven back. * * * Chauncey 
McKeever, Chief of Staff.' 

"I had understood that the engineers had examined the position to be occupied by 
me in force. I objected to the position strongly and repeatedly. * * * j djd not move 
forward with my force to the position at Seven Pines and the woodpile in force until the 
morning of the 29th of May. The weather generally was very unfavorable about that time 
and the roads very muddy. The men of my corps having been continually in the front, 
were very much fatigued. But I ordered them immediately to set all the disposable force 
to work to fortify the position. As there was a great deal of scouting to be done and a 
great deal of picket and guard duty required of the men, the amount of labor they were 
able to perform was comparatively small. The whole time they had was the part of the 29th 
left, after moving their positions, and the 30th to work on their intrenchments, which con- 
sisted of rifle-pits and a small pentangular redoubt, and some slashings that were cut. 
"" * * On the 29th of May I wrote to Gen. McClellan, of which the following is an 
e.xtract : 'Inasmuch as my position is so far advanced, I should like to know what force, 
in an emergency, I could call upon, with its position.' On the same day I wrote to Gen. 
Marcy that I had seen the enemy in line of battle on that day and the day before on my 
right. The following is an extract from that note : 'The position now held by my corps 
is far advanced. I think I can hold it. At the same time I confess the difficulty of so 
doing, if attacked by a large force, would be much greater than that of defending the posi- 
tion left by Couch this morning. It is my opinion that other troops should be advanced 
nearer to me than any I know of now, as the roads are in the most wretched condition.' 
On the 30th of May at 2 p. m. I wrote to Gen. Heintzelman : T am just in from an exam- 
ination of the road leading to the front of my position. In the front the enemy is astir. 
He drove in Casey's outer line of pickets, killing and wounding some of our people, and 
leaving some dead. We drove back the enemy, 400 strong, and now occupy our position 
of last night. As Casey's left flank is threatened, I have ordered Couch to send a brigade 
to support the left. / regard this as a matter of pickets, but shall be glad when I learn that 
Gen. Sumner is across so as to strengthen my right.' * * * j wrote again to Gen. 
Marcy on the morning of the 31st * * * and I stated * * * everything indicates an 
attack on my position, which is only tolerable strong, and my forces too weak to defend it 
properly. * * * The position which was occupied by Gen. Casey's line, which was the 
first line, was so near the enemy, and the country was so thickly wooded, that there was 
no moment in which we might not have been attacked by masses of the enemy, who could 
have reached our lines in about fifteen minutes from the time they first showed themselves. 
On the day of the battle, however, the firing commenced gradually, and all the troops of 
both my divisions were under arms, and all the artillery harnessed, except those belonging 
to the battery which was inside a little fort, built by Gen. Casey. I was on horseback an 
hour and a half, riding along my lines, before I considered the action serious. I did not 
send word to Gen. Heintzelman to send forward reenforcements until, I think, about one 
o'clock. I became aware that it was a serious attack, an attack in force, about half past 
twelve o'clock. I have reason to believe that my messenger was delayed, and that he did 
not deliver my message as quickly by a great deal as he ought to have done. As to the 
battle itself, I refer to my report of it, which is better than anything else I could now state. 
The only point in my report which I wish to change is, that I think instead of Gen. Heintzel- 
man arriving on the field about 3 o'clock, he arrived there at nearer 4 o'clock than 3 o'clock. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 163 

I saw some of his troops before I saw him. I did not consider the battle serious until the 
sJiot began to fall about me where I stood, and until I could see the masses of the enemy 
bursting through the woods in front of Casey's line. Question : "What was the strength 
of your corps at the time of the battle of Seven Pines? Answer: "I have before me the 
returns of my corps on the 25th of May, in which Casey's division is put down at 6,932 and 
Couch's division at 8,746. Between the 25th and the day of the battle quite a number of the 
men were taken sick, and my picket-line was so long, and the detachments so numerous, 
that I am willing to state my impression that I had not more than 12,000 men actually 
engaged on the 31st of May.' * * * Gen. Hooker told me that he had passed some little 
distance beyond the line that had been occupied by Casey's pickets before the battle, but 
when I visited Gen. Hooker's front, two or three days after the battle, I found that his 
picket line was not so far advanced by some two hundred yards as mine had been." (Report 
Conduct of the War, part 1, pp. 597-614.) 

From report of Brig. Gen. Silas Casey, commanding Second Division, Fourth Corps. 

"I occupied with my division the advanced position of the army, about three-fourths of 
a mile from the cross-roads at the Seven Pines, where I caused rifle pits and a redoubt to 
be thrown up ; also an abatis to be commenced about one-third of a mile in front of the 
pits, and parties were employed upon these works on the morning of the 31st. Previously 
to occupying my last position I had occupied the cross roads, and had there also caused an 
abatis to be cut and earthworks to be commenced. 

"On the 29th, the day on which I moved my camp forward, and also on the 30th, my 
advanced pickets had been attacked by bodies of the enemy; on the former day by a force 
of 300, and on the next by one of 400 in number. The pickets on the first day succeeded 
in driving the enemy back in confusion, killing and wounding a number, with a loss on my 
part of but 2 killed and 2 wounded. Major Kelley, of the 96th Regiment New York Vols., 
was one of my killed. The major was in command of the pickets at this point, and by his 
gallant conduct animated the men to the firm resistance offered. 

"In the attack of the 30th I ordered the 100th New York Vols, to move to the support 
of the pickets. With the assistance of this regiment, under command of Col. Brown, they 
succeeded in repelling the attack, the enemy leaving 6 of his dead upon the ground. 

"On the morning of the 31st my pickets toward the right of my line succeeded in cap- 
turing Lieutenant Washington, an aide of Gen. Johnston, of the rebel service. This cir- 
cumstance, in connection with the fact that Col. Hunt, my general officer of the day, had re- 
ported to me that his outer pickets had heard cars running nearly all night on the Rich- 
mond end of the railroad, led me to exercise increased vigilance. Between 11 and 12 o'clock 
a mounted vedette was sent in from the advanced pickets to report that a body of the 
enemy was in sight, approaching the Richmond road. I immediately ordered the 103d Regi- 
ment Penna. Vols, to advance to the front, for the purpose of supporting the pickets. It 
was soon afterward reported to me by a mounted vedette that the enemy were advancing in 
force, and about the same time two shells were thrown over my camp. I was led to be- 
lieve that a serious attack was contemplated, and immediately ordered the division under 
arms, the men at work on the rifle pits and abatis to be recalled and to join their regi- 
ments, the artillery to be harnessed up at once, and made my dispositions to repel the enemy. 
While these were in progress the pickets commenced firing. 

"I directed Spratt's battery of four pieces 3-inch rifled guns to advance in front of the 
rifle pits about one-fourth of a mile, in order to reply with advantage to the enemy's artil- 
lery, which I knew was in battery in front of my picket line, and also to shell the enemy as 
soon as the withdrawal of the pickets and their supports should permit. I supported this 
battery by the 104th Regiment Penna. Vols., the 11th Regiment Maine Vols., and the 100th 
Regiment New York Vols., of the First Brigade, and the 92d Regiment New York Vols., of 
the Third Brigade. I placed Capt. Bates' battery, commanded by Lieutenant Hart, in a re- 
doubt; Captain Regan's battery in rear and on the right of the rifle pits, and Capt. Fitch's 
battery in rear of the redoubt. The 85th Regiment New York Vols, occupied the rifle 
pits on the left and the 85th Regiment Penna. Vols, those on the right. The 101st Regiment 
Penna. Vols, were posted on the right of these regiments, and the 81st, 98th, and 96th Regi- 
ment New York Vols, were advanced to cover the left flank. For several days the 5?d Regi- 
ment Penna. Vols, had occupied a position on the Nine-mile road as a support to my ad- 
vanced pickets on my right flank, and the 56th Regiment New York Vols, had held a position 
on the railroad. I made no change in the positions of these last two regiments. About fif- 
teen minutes after these dispositions had been completed I directed the advanced battery to 
open on the artillery and advancing columns of the enemy. In a short time after the 103d 
Regiment Penna. Vols., which at the first alarm had been ordered to the support of the 
pickets, came down the road in some confusion, having suffered considerable loss from the 
fire of the rebel advance. The enemy now attacked me in large force on the center and 
both wings, and a brisk fire of musketry commenced along the two opposing lines, my ar- 
tillery in the meantime throwing canister into their ranks with great effect. Perceiving 
at length that the enemy were threatening me upon both wings, for want of re-inforcements, 
which had been repeatedly asked for, and that his column still pressed on, I then, in order to 



164 CASEY'S DIVISION 

save my artillery, ordered a charge of bayonets by the four supporting regiments at the 
center, which was executed in a most gallant and successful manner under the immediate 
direction of Brig.-Gen. Naglee, commanding First Brigade, the enemy being driven back. 
When the charge had ceased, but not until the troops had reached the edge of the wood, 
the most terrible fire of musketry commenced that I have ever witnessed. The enemy again 
advanced in force, and the flanks being again severely threatened, a retreat to the works be- 
came necessary. 

"To be brief, the rifle pits were retained until they were almost enveloped by the 
enemy, the troops with some exceptions fighting with spirit and gallantry. The troops then 
retreated to the second line, in possession of Gen. Couch's division. Two pieces of artillery 
were placed in the road between the two lines, which did good execution upon the advancing 
foe. 

"On my arrival at the second line I succeeded in rallying a small portion of my division, 
and with the assistance of Gen. Kearny, who had just arrived at the head of one of the 
brigades of his division, attempted to regain possession of my works, but it was found 
impracticable. The troops of Gen. Couch's division were driven back, although re-enforced 
by the corps of Gen. Heintzelman. 

"The corps of Gens. Keyes and Heintzelman having retired to the third line by direction 
of Gen. Heintzelman, I there collected together what remained of my division. 

"The 52d Regiment Penna. Vols, and the 56th Regiment New York Vols, were under 
the particular direction of Brigadier-General Naglee, and I refer to his report for further 
mention of them. 

"Gen. Naglee behaved with distinguished gallantry through the engagement, having a 
horse killed under him and receiving four contused wounds from musket balls. Gens. 
Palmer and Wessells encouraged by their example their men to do their duty on the field. 
Gen. Wessells had a horse shot under him and himself received a wound in the shoulder. 

"Lieuts. West and Foster, my aides-de-camp, were active through the day, affording me 
much service and behaving gallantly. Captain Davis, of the Provost guard of my division, 
acted as my aide a portion of the time, rendering much assistance and conducting himself 
in a gallant manner. I also feel much indebted to my medical director. Dr. Crosby, for the 
energy he evinced in collecting the wounded and his promptness and skill in providing for 
them. 

"I have enclosed a list of the killed, wounded, and missing, as also the reports of the 
commanders of brigades, to which I refer. 

"I cannot forbear mention of the severe misfortune suffered by the division and the 
service in the loss of Col. G. D. Bailey, my chief of artillery, who fell in the attempt to 
spike the pieces in my redoubt, which were necessarily abandoned. Col. Bailey was an officer 
of thorough military education ; of clear and accurate mind ; cool, determined, and in- 
trepid in the discharge of his duty, and promising with riper years to honor still more the 
profession to which he was devoted. About the same time, also, fell Maj. Van Valken- 
burgh, of the First Regiment New York Artillery, a brave, discreet, and energetic officer. 

"Under the circumstances, I think it my duty to add a few remarks with regard to my 
division. On leaving Washington eight of the regiments were composed of raw troops. It 
has been the misfortune of the division in marching through the Peninsula to be subjected 
to an ordeal which would have severely tried veteran troops. Furnished with scanty trans- 
portation, occupying sickly positions, exposed to the inclemency of the weather at times, 
without tents or blankets, and illy supplied with rations and medical stores, the loss from 
sickness has been great, especially with the officers ; yet a party from my division took pos- 
session of the railroad bridge across the Chickahominy, driving the enemy from it, and my 
division took the advance on the 23d of May and by an energetic reconnaissance drove the 
enemy beyond the Seven Pines. 

"Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, and the fact that there were not 5,000 men in 
line of battle, they withstood for three hours the attack of an overwhelming force of the 
enemy without the re-enforcement of a single man at my first line. The 55th Regiment 
New York Vols, reached my second line just before it was evacuated. 

"If a portion of the division did not behave so well as could have been wished, it must 
be remembered to what a terrible ordeal they were subjected. Still, those that behaved dis- 
creditably were exceptional cases. It is true that the division after being nearly surrounded 
by the enemy and losing one-third of the number actually engaged, retreated to the second 
line. They would all have been prisoners of war had they delayed their retreat a few 
minutes longer. 

"In my humble opinion, from what I witnessed on the 31st, I am convinced that the 
stubborn and desperate resistance of my division saved the army on the right bank of the 
Chickahominy from a severe repulse, which might have resulted in a disastrous defeat. The 
blood of the gallant dead would cry to me from the ground on which they fell fighting for 
their country had I not said what I have to vindicate them from the unmerited aspersion 
which has been cast upon them." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 913-916.) 



AT SEVEN PINES. 165 

Under date of June 18, Gen. Casey made an additional report as follows: 

"I wish to add to my report of the operations of my division the following: The 
number of men actually in line (including artillery) was 4.300. Killed, officers 12, enlisted 
men, 165; total, 177; wounded, officers, 51; enlisted men. 883; total, 934; missing, officers, 
10; enlisted men, 312; total, officers, 73; enlisted men, 1,360; total 1,433. Many of the 
missing are supposed to be killed. (O. R. Ser. I. Vol. XI, part I, p. 917.) 

From Gen. Casey's testimony before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Con- 
duct of the War: 

"We went forward to the Seven Pines, driving the enemy, and took up our position. 
I there commenced establishing myself, making rifle-pits and cutting abatis. Soon after I 
got established I was ordered (contrary to my advice and opinion) three-quarters of a mile 
to the front, within six miles of Richmond, my pickets extending to within five miles of 
that city. My division composed of raw troops, with no support on their right or left, 
were pushed like a wedge right up in the presence of a strong force of the enemy, my 
troops having suffered severely in coming up the Peninsula. However, that was the order, 
and I obeyed, and went to work with all my energy to dig rifle-pits, make abatis, etc. For 
two nights the enemy attacked my pickets in force, but were repulsed with loss. * ♦ * 
My pickets frequently killed the enemy 700 or 800 yards off from my line. * * * They 
attacked me on the morning of the 31st of May. The preceding night was one of the worst 
I ever saw. I never before heard such a thunderstorm as there was on that night. * * * 
About 11 o'clock my pickets took prisoner one of Gen. Johnston's aides. That matter \yas 
managed exceedingly well. The sergeant in charge ordered the men not to fire upon him, 
but let him come on, when they captured him, with a number of important documents. 
When he was brought in I began to suppose that something serious was contemplated. I 
took this aide, Lieut. Washington, and also my general officer of the day, Col. Hunt, over 
to Gen. Keyes, and reported to him all the circumstances. About 11 o'clock the pickets 
reported by a mounted vedette, that the enemy were approaching, evidently in force. 
* * * I 'fought that battle in two lines, by which means I think I .saved an hour ; that 
is, I kept the enemy back for an hour by fighting them in two lines. I put a force in the 
rifle pits and then went out and established a line about one-third of a mile in advance, five 
or six regiments and four pieces of artillery. Soon after another vedette came in and re- 
ported that the enemy were coming in force. I had my artillery all harnessed, and my 
division was in line about a quarter of an hour before the enemy arrived. The enemy 
attacked me twenty minutes of one o'clock. I had sent out the 103d Penna. Regiment 
for the purpose of sustaining the pickets, some time before this. The enemy soon crowded 
upon me, and attacked me in front and on both wings, in force * * *. Question. How 
large a force was your division? Answer. Only 4,380 men. We fought them there on 
that front line. We had four pieces of artillery which were very effective. The enemy 
pressed upon me so hard that in order to save my artillery, I ordered a charge of four 
regiments of infantry and I never saw a handsomer thing in my life than that charge was. 
They drove the enemy away back into the woods ; but he still came on in force, crowded 
upon me in superior numbers, and we were obliged to fall back from our front line to the 
rifle pits. We there fought them until we were almost surrounded. * * * Gen. Keyes 
said that he would send me Abercrombie's brigade, and I selected the position to which I 
would assign it; but it did not come. A regiment came up just before we were compelled 
to retreat from our second line. * * * The enemy came down on Gen. Keyes' second 
line and completely swept it away. And although Gen._ Heintzelman came up with one 
division — Kearn3''s — we could not take back our lines again. Couch's line was swept away, 
and in about an hour we were driven back. Gen. Keyes' corps, reenforced by Gen. Heint- 
zelman, were driven back about two miles from my first line. All that saved our army from 
a disastrous defeat, in my opinion, was Gen. Sumner coming over about six o'clock. I 
have always claimed that my division by its obstinate resistance, saved that army, for it 
enabled Sumner's division to come over in time. Col. Sweitzer, of Gen. McClellan's staff, 
who went to the enemy's line on a flag of truce, had a conference with Maj.-Gen. Hill, who 
commanded a division of that battle. The colonel, after some conversation with the gen- 
eral, asked him the following question, to which he requested a reply: Question. 'There 
has been considerable discussion and disagreement about the conduct of Casey's division. 
What is your candid opinion of it?' Gen. Hill replied: 'I know it has been animadverted 
and censured. We are very much surprised at it. The division fought as well as I ever 
want to see men fight; and after it gave way we did not find anything else to fight. Any 
censure of Gen. Casey would be very unjust.' Col. Simpson of the New Jersey Vols, and 
an officer of the topographical engineers, who was a prisoner in Richmond, informed me 
that the Confederate officers expressed much surprise that any censure had been cast on 
my division; that it fought with more obstinacy than any other fighting on that day, and 
that the determined resistance saved the army of the right bank of the Chickahoming from 
a disastrous defeat' 

"Gen. Heintzelman, in his report of that battle makes a statement that has no founda- 



166 CASEY'S DIVISION 

tion in fact. He states that an officer reported to him that more men were killed in their 
tents than were killed outside. I do not think there was a man bayoneted in his tent. I saw 
this morning Brigade Surgeon Smith, who was there, and he informed me that he examined 
into that matter particularly, and that he did not find a man who was killed in that way. 
The truth of the matter is just this: My division was placed in an entirely false position, 
and unjust aspersions were cast upon it; whether designedly or not, those who did it know 
best themselves. The enemy retained possession of my works until Monday morning, and 
then evacuated them and retreated. No one drove them out. Gen. McClellan was not on 
the field of battle until after the enemy evacuated. Gen. Heintzelman did not get up until 
nearly four o'clock on Saturday, and the enemy attacked me at 20 minutes to one o'clock. 

"I desire to make one statement here in justice to the 103d (Penna.) Regiment. In 
my report I did not do them justice. I am satisfied of that from the facts which have since 
come to my knowledge. * * * The enemy say that the head of their strong column was 
really checked by that one regiment and the pickets it had been sent out to support." 
(Report Conduct of the War, part 1, pp. 441-447.) 

From report of Gen. H. W. Wessells (comd'g Second Brigade, Casey's division) : 

"Between 12 and 1 o'clock p. m. our pickets posted in front were attacked by the 
enemy. I at once, pursuant to instructions from the brigadier-general commanding the 
division, sent forward the 103d Penna. Vols., Maj. Gazzam, to their support. As the 
firing soon indicated a formidable advance of the enemy, I at once ordered the brigade 
under arms and formed the line of battle in accordance with the instructions of the division 
commander. The 101st Penna. Vols., Lieut.-Col. Morris, was placed on the right of the 
Richmond road, perpendicular to it, the right flank of the battalion extending into the woods 
and in rear of the newly constructed rifle pits. The 85th Penna. Vols., Col. Howell, in rear 
of the rifle pits, extended from the redoubt across the Richmond road, to near theleft of 
the 101st. The 96th New York Vols., Col. Fairman, was placed in advance of the rifle pits 
and to the left of the 85th. The battalions being thus disposed, I took my position in rear 
of the 101st and in such manner as to observe the 85th. The 103d being too far to the 
front for my immediate supervision, its movements were left to the judgment of its com- 
mander, whose report is herewith enclosed. 

"The increase of musketry soon told that the 103d was engaged. Driven from its 
position, it fell back firing and again made a stand. Assailed by overwhelming numbers 
from the front and flank, it again fell back to a new position. Here the enemy approached 
from the right, and. exposed to a terrific fire from the front and both flanks, its flagstaff 
shot away, the regiment again fell back, followed by the enemy, who was seen to emerge 
from the woods in front and advance toward the 101st. The enemy's fire was directed with 
great precision and effect on this regiment, which, however, stood fast and returned the 
fire with coolness and rapidity. Hoping the 101st would be able to maintain its position, 
I crossed to the road in the rear of the 85th, which was now occupying the rifle pits, amid 
a terrific fire from the front, and which was constantly and effectually returned. The 96th 
New York Vols., which up to this time had gallantly maintained its position, was forced 
to fall back to the line of the left of the rifle pits, where it again opened fire and continued 
with great effect until again forced back by a terrific fire from the front and flank, enfilading 
completely the rifle pits occupied by the 8'5th and 101st. Lieut.-Col. Morris, 101st, in order 
to protect his right, which was assailed by a terrible fire from that flank, caused the right 
wing of his battalion to change front to that direction, and for some time succeeded in 
holding the enemy in check, until he fell severely wounded and was borne from the field, 
when the regiment, assailed by overwhelming numbers, was forced to fall back. 

"The 85th and 96th, having fallen back, were again formed on the left of the road, 
in rear of the camp in the fallen timber, and delivered their fire with great effect, but being 
again flanked and overwhelmed, were compelled again to retire. The right wing of the 
101st, after retiring, deployed to the left, and, passing the left wing, opened its fire, and for 
some time maintained its position, but was at length compelled to fall back. Considerable 
disorder here ensued, the fallen timber and irregularity of the ground preventing the com- 
panies and battalions from preserving their alignment. Different regiments were inter- 
mingled and the line put in confusion. Col. Howell gallantly rallied a part of his regiment 
and regained the rifle pits, but was again driven back. The troops fell back slowly, but with 
some disorder, carrying with them their arras. They were rallied, however, by the efforts 
of Capt. Jeffries, assistant adjutant-general of this brigade, and marched all in good order 
(except the sick, numbering over 300, who abandoned the camp at the commencement of 
the action and fled in the direction of the Chickahominy River in great disorder) to a suit- 
able camping ground, where the line was formed, ammunition sent for across the river, and 
information sent to Gens. Heintzelman, Keyes and Casey of the position of the troops. 

"After the brigade had retired I reported to Brig.-CSen. Keyes, by whom I was directed 
to re-form the line on the right of Devens' rifle pits, and having been driven from that 
position in the same manner as before, with my horse killed under me and a severe con- 
tusion in the shoulder from a musket ball, I fell back near sunset with retreating fragments 
of other brigades and halted at this camp. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 167 

"The casualties are as follows : 34 killed (as shown elsewhere in this article, the fatal 
casualties of one regiment of this brigade, 103d Penna., was 35) ; 271 wounded; 55 missing. 
A correct list of the names is herewith enclosed. 

"The actual effective strength of the brigade, as appears from the morning reports, 
was 2,061. Of these, 200 comprised the working party on the fortifications; a like number 
was detailed on picket, which, with the usual details and extra duty men, made our actual 
strength in action less than 1,500 men. 

"During the engagement I was ably assisted by Capt. Jeffries, assistant adjutant- 
general; Lieuts. Williams and Dawson, acting aides-de-camp, who were with me in the 
thickest of the fight. 

"I desire also to notice the conduct of Dr. Rush, acting brigade surgeon, who nobly 
discharged his duty from first to last." (0. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, pp. 926-927.) 

From report of Maj. Audley W. Gazzam, commanding 103rd Penna. Vols. 

"At about 1 o'clock P. M. of the 31st day of May, 1862, under orders from Brigadier- 
General Wessells, I marched my regiment out and formed it immediately in rear of the 
picket reserves and about half a mile from our camp, throwing out two companies, B. & G., 
under command of Captain George W. Gillespie, on the left of the road, to protect that flank, 
the right of the regiment resting on a piece of marshy ground. When the pickets were 
fired on and driven in I ordered the reserve to take their place in the regiment. 

"The enemy now opened a heavy fire on the left and center, which was returned by my 
whole line. The enemy's fire now opened along the whole Hne, and we were also subjected 
to a very heavy cross fire from both flanks. When I saw that we could no longer hold our 
ground, unsupported as we were, I ordered my men to fall back slowly, which they did, and 
formed on a road running nearly at right angles to the one on which we had entered the 
woods. 

"The overwhelming force of the enemy, which now almost surrounded us, compelled me 
again to retire, to prevent being entirely cut ofiF. Owing to the nature of the ground, which 
was marshy and covered with underwood and fallen timber, it was impossible to retire in 
order. 

"The regiment when marched out consisted of 430 men. The remainder of the com- 
mand was detailed on fatigue and picket dut>', and one company of 50 men was detained in 
camp to relieve the pickets then on duty. The loss in killed, wounded and missing, of which 
a detailed report has been made, amounts to 95 men. We encamped for the night in the 
woods back of Savage Station, on the railroad." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, p. 928.) 

From report of Gen. H. M. Naglee (comd'g First Brigade, Casey's division) : 

"This was the line of our advance on Saturday, the 31st of May, at 12 M., when two 
shells thrown into our camp first announced the hostile intentions of the enemy. ♦ * * 
No alarm was felt by any one, for it was seldom that twenty-four hours passed that we did 
not exchange similar salutations. Soon thereafter it was reported that an attack was im- 
pending. The usual orders were issued, and within half an hour the troops moved to posi- 
tions that were assigned to them by Gen. Casey. Being at this time on the Nine-mile road, 
near a breastwork fronting the Old Tavern, then under construction, and judging from the 
discharges of musketry becoming frequent that something serious was intended, I hastened 
in the direction indicated by the fire and soon arrived upon the ground, on the Williamsburg 
road * * * where I found Gen. Casey, who had placed the 100th New York * * * on 
the left of the road. * * * On the right of the same road was placed Capt. Spratt's * * * 
battery * * *. On the right of this were three companies of the 11th Maine * * * and 
on the right of the 11th Maine were eight companies of the 104th Penna. Four companies 
of the 11th Maine v/ere on picket duty, but being driven in, formed with the 56th New 
York * * * at his encampment, 800 yards in rear of picket line, 200 yards to the left of 
the railroad. Col. Dodge's 52d Penna., supporting the picket line on the extreme right, 
formed at his encampment on the Nine-Miles road, three-quarters of a mile in rear of the 
large Garnett field. The remaining companies of the 104th Penna. and the Uth Maine were 
on picket duty * * * in the direction of the Chickahominy. * * * Soon after my 
arrival upon the ground, about 1 o'clock P. M., the fire then being frequent and from the 
direction of the main Richmond stage road. Gen. Casey gave an order to the 100th New 
York, 104th Penna., and 11th Maine to charge, when, as reported by Col. Davis — 

" 'The regiments sprang forward toward the enemy with a tremendous yell. In our 
way was a high worm fence, which cut our former line of battle, but the boys sprang over 
it into the same enclosure with the enemy, where we formed and renewed the fight. The 
battle now raged with great fury and the firing was much hotter than before. Spratt's bat- 
tery during this time had kept up a lively fire in the same direction. At about 3 P. M. the 
enemy being largely reenforced, pressed us in front and flank, and seeing that we could not 
hold our position much longer unless reenforced, I dispatched an officer to Gen. Casey for 
that purpose. The colonel of the 100th New York being killed, the colonel of the 104th 
being severely wounded; the major mortally wounded; the lieutenant colonel being absent; 
half of our men having fallen killed or wounded; the enemy ten times our number, being 



168 CASEY'S DIVISION 

within a few feet of us, one of them striking Sergt. Porter, the left guide of the 104th, over 
the neck with his musket; several of the 11th Maine being bayonetted; receiving no reen- 
forcements, we were ordered with Spratt's battery to retire, but unfortunatly. the horses 
of one of the pieces being killed, we were compelled to abandon that piece.' 

"The enemy endeavored to follow up this success, and was advancing in closed 
columns, when, our troops being sufficiently withdrawn. Col. Bailey, * * * at my 
request, directed the fire of the batteries of Fitch and Bates * * * to be concentrated 
upon the advancing mass. * * * Congratulating Col. Bailey upon his gallant conduct 
* * * and suggesting that, in the event of being compelled to abandon another piece, he 
should instruct his gunners to spike before leaving it, he went into the redoubt to give these 
orders when he was shot * * * and died a few minutes after * * * Soon after this 
Maj. Van Valkenburgh was killed by a rifle ball whilst actively engaged in working these 
batteries, and but a little while after Lieut. Rumsey, * * * in the same manner. All 
the field and staff officers being killed I assumed the direction of the batteries composmg 
the 1st New York Artillery. No reinforcements having been sent to us * * * about 
3 :oO P. M. I rode to the rear and led up the ooth New York, and placed it in line perpendicu- 
lar to the Williamsburg road, about 50 yards in advance of the redoubt, the left resting a short 
distance from the road. * * * Leaving the o5th my attention was directed toward the 
right where I found the 56th New York with the Uth Maine, who after four hours' contest 
had fallen back about 400 yards, and were again placed by me at 4:10 o'clock in a depression 
in the ground about midway between the Williamsburg road and the railroad and about 300 
yards in front of the Nine-Mile road. Near by I found the 52d Penna,. which had been 
ordered from the right, and I placed them in echelon to the right and front of the 56th, 
with the right resting on a large pond. At this time the fire here had considerably slackened, 
but was increasing on the left. Returning in about an hour to the left I found the 55th 
engaged to their utmost extent, and ascertained * * * that there were none of our 
troops between the VVhite Oak Swamp and a line parallel with and but 200 yards from 
the Williamsburg road. He had more than an hour before discovered this, and with 
sharpshooters concealed in the woods to the left and rear of the redoubt and rifle pits they 
had killed many of our most valuable officers, had picked off the cannoneers, and had killed 
from three to four horses out of every team attached to the 1st New York Artillery, and 
at the time of my return had driven our men from the rifle-pits. No time was to be lost. 
Fitch's battery was ordered to the rear. The battery under Lieut. Hart was next ordered 
to retire, but it was soon found that but one limber couli be moved. I ordered the pieces 
to be spiked, but after spiking the pieces in the redoubt those on the outside of it were in 
the possession of the enemy. By way of precaution I had ordered the prolonges to be fixed 
to the sections of Regan's battery still firing up the Williamsburg road, and ordered it to 
retire firing until in the abattis that crosses the road, and I then withdrew the 55th under 
the protection of its fire. This regiment had fought most gallantly, suffered severely, and 
contributed much in the end toward saving Regan's battery from falling into the hands 
of the enemy; and then, the entire field in front of and including the redoubt being in pos- 
session of the enemy, who had pressed to within a few yards of us, it being neces_sary to 
support many of the wounded horses to keep them from falling in the traces, at 5:15 P. M. 
we brought the last sections of Bailey's New York artillery from the field, the air being at 
this time literally filled with iron and lead. Returning rapidly to my 56th New York, 11th 
Maine, and 52d Penna., my anticipations here were realized. Being successful in turning 
our left flank, the enemy had opened a most destructive cross-fire upon them from the 
pieces near the redoubt that had not been spiked, and this, with the fire from their imme- 
diate front, was no longer to be endured, and they were withdrawn and marched down the 
Nine-mile road, and placed in position in rear of this road about 300 yards from Seven 
Pines, when soon their services were required. In the meanwhile Col. Neill, of the 23d 
Penna., had come upon the ground occupied by Col. Dodge, and induced him to advance 
in front and to the right of the position that had been assigned to him, whilst he (Col. 
Neill) occupied that which the 52d Penna. vacated; but these dispositions were scarcely 
made before the masses of the enemy broke through, and a few minutes sufficed to leave 
the half of Dodge's command upon the ground and to force Neill precipitately from the 
position. The remaining portion of the 52d — for it was now reduced to a little over a 
hundred men — were conducted along the Nine-mile road to the Seven Pines, when, finding 
the rifle pits occupied, they took possession of a fence and some outhouses, and did most 
effective service. Afterward they crossed to the left of Couch's position, and advanced 200 
yards into and along the woods to the left and in front of the Seven Piries, where they 
remained actively employed until nearly dark, when the enemy, advancing rapidly, in 
masses to the rear of the Nine-mile road, inclined toward the Williamsburg road, sweep- 
ing everything to the rear, which did not stop until all had arrived at the line of defense 
1 mile in that direction. The 52d, having their retreat cut off, escaped by passing through 
the woods to the left and rear to the saw-mill at the White Oak Swamp and thence to the 
line above referred to, where they rejoined their comrades of the First Brigade. Following 
down the Nine-mile road, after Dodge was compelled to retreat about 500 yards from the 
outer section at the Seven Pines, I found Col. J. W. Adams, commanding the 1st Long 



AT SEVEN PINES. 169 

Island, which was placed across the road, a portion of the right flank being in rear of it, 
with the left flank extending to the front and left. Advising Col. Adams of the rapid 
approach of the enemy, of the direction he was coming, and of the position of the 56th and 
104th on his left, he withdrew the left flank of the Long Island to the rear of the Nine-mile 
road, making a continuous line with the above, and the men were ordered to lie down, 
that they should escape the murderous fire that was incessantly pouring in from the front 
Scarcely was this done when the 87th New York, Col. Stephen A. Dodge, of Kearny's divi- 
sion, Heintzelman's corps, came along the Nine-mile road with rapid step, cheering most 
vociferously, passed the 11th Maine, 104th Penna., and the 1st Long Island about 50 yards, 
received a volley, broke, and passed the whole of them, running over the backs of those 
lying down, the latter remaining undisturbed, until ordered to rise and meet the accumu- 
lated force that was bearing all before it. Volley after volley was given and received. An 
order was given to charge, but 100 yards brought us into such close proximity with the 
enemy that a sheet of fire was blazing in our faces. The ranks on both sides were rapidly 
thinning, but still the great disparity in our number continued. So close were the contending 
forces, that our men in many instances whilst at a charge poured their fire into the breasts 
of the enemy within a few feet from the points of their bayonets. This dreadful contest 
lasted until nearly dark. My 56th and 104th suffered dreadfully, lost the greater part of their 
officers and men, and were compelled to give way, carrying their wounded with them. It 
was then in the language of Lieut. Haney, of the 104th : 

" 'That I (Lieut. Haney) and Lieut. Ashenfelter and others led Capt. Corcoran, Capt. 
Swartzlander, and Lieut. Hendrie off the field. It was getting dark ; it was about half an 
hour before dark. We went down the Nine-mile road and along the Williamsburg road. 
The fighting was nearly over; our troops were all returning; we saw the enemy not over 
75 yards in our rear, and no troops between us and them. All of our forces were moving 
back, little regard being paid to brigade, regimental, or even company organization. Kearny's 
troops came, but did not stay long. Capt. Corcoran becoming continually weaker, we were 
compelled to carry him.' 

"* ♦ * I have shown in the history of the battle of the Seven Pines the conduct 
of every one of the regiments of the First Brigade from the time the first volley was 
fired at noon until the enemy, having driven our troops from the ground near dark, cut off 
the retreat of the 52d by the Williamsburg road, and were still annoyed by their deadly fire. 
* "' * For three and a half hours we contested every inch of ground with the enemy, 
and did not yield in that time the half of 1 mile. We fought from 12 M. until 3:30 P. M. 
with but little assistance, and until dark with our comrades of other regiments and of other 
divisions whenever we could be of service, and when at dark the enemy swept all before 
him, we were the last to leave the field. Since the battle of Seven Pines, now nearly three 
weeks, a force ten times that of Casey and Couch have not been able to regain the line of 
outposts established by the First Brigade on the 26th of Maj', our present line being half 
a mile in rear thereof. * * * Conduct such as this, if not worthy of commendation, 
should not call forth censure, for censure undeserved chills the ardor and daring of the 
soldier and dishonors both the living and the dead." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, Part I, pp. 921- 
926.) 

From Col. W. W. H. Davis' report (comd'g 104th Penna., Naglee's brigade) : 

"About 12 :30 o'clock noon an aide-de-camp of Gen. Casey came to my quarters on the 
Nine-mile road and ordered me to get my regiment under arms immediately. In a few 
minutes afterward it was formed on the color line cut in the bushes. I had but eight 
companies in line, the other two being on picket. My effective strength was a little less 
than 400 men. Shortly after we formed another aide came to my quarters with orders to 
move the regiment out by the left flank to a clearing between the Nine-mile and Williams- 
burg roads to support Spratt's battery of 10 pounders. We marched along a path I had 
caused to be cut through the bushes a few days before, and formed line in the edge of 
the timber a little to the right and rear of the battery. I had hardly dressed my line when 
I was ordered to advance my regiment into the clearing in front, which was done as 
quickly as possible. To attain this position we had to cross the abatis formed to prevent the 
approach of the enemy, and my line was a considerable distance in front of the battery I 
was sent to support. The right of the regiment rested on the timber which flank in on 
that side. Skirmishing had been going on before we arrived on the field, and soon after- 
ward the skirmishers came running in, pressed back by the enemy. The enemy's bullets 
fell in my ranks while the line was being formed. Nevertheless, the regiment was dressed 
with the precision of a dress parade. We opened with a general volley, the first fired that 
day, which announced the action commenced in earnest, and until it was concluded there 
was a perfect rattle of musketry and roar of artillery. The men began to fall, killed or 
wounded, but there was no faltering. Every officer and man stool up to his work. Seeing 
a movement of the enemy on our right as though about to flank us in that direction. Com- 
panies A and D were pushed into the timber to prevent it. The enemy now came out of 
the timber and pressed down upon us in overwhelming numbers. Their fire was withering. 
We had now been under fire about an hour and a half, and our ranks were much thinner. 



170 CASEY'S DIVISION 

The enemy was now pressing me hard in front and on the right flank, and their fire had 
approached so near as to endanger the battery. Under these circximstances I ordered a 
charg'e, the regiment at the word springing forward and advancing with a loud huzzah 
toward the enemy. It had the effect of gaining time and enabled us to hold the enemy 
longer in check. Seeing I must relinquish my ground unless reenforced, I sent Lieut. 
Ashenfelter to Gen. Casey on the Williamsburg road with the request that he would send 
me a regiment to support the 104th. He passed twice between the two armies unharmed. 
He sent word that if I could hold my position a few minutes longer he would reenforce 
me. The tight had now raged two hours with great fierceness, and almost one-half my 
regiment had fallen. In this part of the field the 104th was contending single handed 
with overwhelming numbers. We could hold our ground no longer, and the superior num- 
bers of the enemy and the want of the promised support, compelled us to retire. The 
men left the ground slowly and sullenly and retired down the Nine-mile road to near 
where it joins the Williamsburg road, where they halted and later in the day fell into 
line to resist the approach of the enemy. Company F came in from the picket-line during 
the afternoon and took part in the action toward the close of the day. Company E was 
less fortunate. It was surrounded by the enemy on the picket-line, and Lieut. Croll and 
about sixty men were captured. Among our wounded was Maj. John M. Cries, who was 
mortally shot in the hip while attempting to rescue the colors, which were brought off in 
safety. He died a few days afterward in Philadelphia. Lieut. McDowell was killed on 
the field, and his body fell into the hands of the enemy. In addition I had 9 officers 
wounded, 166 non-commissioned officers and privates, and 62 taken prisoners. Both offi- 
cers and men are particularly noticeable for their good conduct ; and among others. Chaplain 
Cries made himself very useful in attending upon the wounded. I received a rifle bullet in 
my left elbow and was hit by a spent ball on my left breast, and am now at home recover- 
ing from my wounds." (O. R. Series I, Vol. LI. Part I, page 99.) 

From Col. H. M. Plaisted's report (comd'g 11th Maine Regiment, Naglee's brigade) : 

"I was on the picket line near the Williamsburg road about noon of the 31st, being 
general officer of the day, when our pickets were attacked by the enemy and driven m. 
I met Gen. Casey soon after emerging from the woods. He immdiately ordered out the 
11th Maine and the 100th New York. Returning to my camp, opposite Gen. Casey's head- 
quarters, I met three companies of the regiment, under the command of Maj. Campbell. 
* * * The balance of the regiment (7 companies) were on picket. Taking command 
of the battalion, I moved it up the Williamsburg road a short distance, halted and loaded 
under a scattering fire * * *. Orders then came to move my regiment up and support 
Capt. Spratt's battery, then hotly engaged on the right of the road, about 200 yards in 
advance. I moved to post my companies on the right of the battery, as it was supported 
on the left by the 100th New York. To avoid shots directed to silence the battery, I filed 
to the right across the road to the woods about 150 yards, and, under cover of the woods, 
advanced in line of battle to the front until opposite the right of the battery, then by the 
left flank to my position— about 30 yards from the right of the battery * * *. I ordered 
my men to lie down behind a ridge that protected them, and reserve their fire until the 
rebels emerged from the woods. Soon after. Gen. Naglee rode in front of my line amidst a 
shower of bullets, and ordered me to charge. With the greatest enthusiasm the order was 
obeyed. With the 104th Penna. on my right, we advanced across the open space two or 
three hundred yards to the fence, and not more than 50 yards from the woods, where 
we opened fire. We maintained our fire and our position until two-thirds of my commis- 
sioned officers and one-half my battalion were either killed or wounded, my flag per- 
forated by eleven bullets, flagstaff shot away, and the supports upon my right had left. 
Then reluctantly I gave the order, 'Retreat!' I retreated to my old camp-ground with the 
remains of my three companies, and after a little while retired to the Nine-mile road, 100 
yards to the rear, where I supposed the rally would be made. Twice the shattered flag 
was raised to rally the fugitives of other regiments, but only those who stood by it before 
would stand by it now. In good order we retired to near Savage Station." 

From Gen. Palmer's report (comd'g Third Brigade, Casey's division) : 

"My command, consisting of the 81st, 92d, 85th, and 98th New York Vols., numbered in 
the aggregate about 1,200. Of this number 400 of the effective officers and men were at 
the commencement of the engagement on picket guard or on duty with working parties. A 
great portion of these did not join their regiments, as they should have done, but were 
permitted by the officers in charge of them to ramble about, and of course doing but little 
service. The sick, or those reputed sick, in the brigade numbered some hundreds, and in 
some companies there were no commissioned officers — in the most of them not more than 
one — and I estimate the whole fighting force on the ground at less than 1,000 officers and 
men. For this condition of my command I hold myself in no way responsible; but this 
matter will be the subject of a special report. It is fair to presume that with this force 
it was not expected to do much more than hold in check the enemy, who advanced so 
rapidly that while the men were in the rifle pits they were raked by a fire from both flanks. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 171 

The disposition of the regiments was made by the order of the commanding general of 
the division and was as follows : The 81st was deployed in the field to the extreme left of 
our line and in front of the woods through which the enemy made the flank movement. The 
-85th occupied the left rifle pits, while the 92d and 98th were ordered to the front and to 
the support of the batteries. A very short time after the 81st was placed in position by 
myself, and while I was passing toward the right, the enemy appeared suddenly in front 
of them and delivered a deadly fire. The commanding officer, Lieut. Col. De Forest, was 
wounded, supposed mortally; the major, McAmbly, one captain, Kingman, and several 
men were killed, and many officers and men wounded. The enemy's fire was returned, 
but the force in front was too great for new troops and they retired, leaving many of 
their number on the field, to the woods only a few rods to the rear. The 85th stood their 
ground well in the rifle pits, and I am convinced did good execution. My regiments were 
so situated and the smoke was so dense on the field that it was impossible for me to see 
more than one regiment at a time. While passing along the Hne I discovered that our 
whole position was gradually becoming enveloped, and that unless re-enforcements should 
soon arrive it must be abandoned. An unfortunate affair occurred about the time of the 
closing in of the enemy on the flanks. A shell thrown from one of our own batteries burst 
just over the rifle pits, kilHng and wounding several of the 85th, which up to this time 
had stood its ground well. About the same time Col. Hunt of the 92d, who was encour- 
aging his men to hold their position, was shot in the thigh, and he was compelled to leave 
the field. This occurred about 3 o'clock. I believed that it would not be possible to make 
the men stand much longer unless re-enforced, and I went to Gen. Keyes to beg for some 
of Couch's division, which had just arrived. His reply was that he had formed a new 
line to the rear. Shortly after this the divisions of Kearny and Hooker arrived, but 
not until the enemy had possession of the position where the engagement commenced, and 
which they continued to possess until they chose to retire, which was on Monday morning, 
more than thirty hours after the battle. I only mention this fact to show the injustice of 
attaching blame to any one for retiring with a meager force from a position which was 
held by the enemy in spite of the large re-enforcements in Kearny's, Hooker's, and 
Couch's divisions. It was my misfortune to see a portion of the re-enforcements greater 
than my whole command retire from the field before they had scarcely felt the enemy. 
As it was useless to attempt to reform the brigade when the regiments were so widely 
scattered, the work of collecting the men generally was commenced about sundown, and 
on the next morning they took up their position, by the order of the commandinig general 
of the division, at the position in front of Savage Station. I inclose a list of casualties in 
each regiment, and you will perceive that the killed and wounded alone will amount to 
nearly one-fourth of my whole command, and adding the missing, many of whom I 
suspect are wounded and prisoners, the total loss is considerably more than one-third my 
force. This is sufficient to induce me to think that while the men did not, perhaps, act 
like veteran troops, they did as well as could be expected. For the disasters of the day 
those who placed a small force of the rawest troops in the army in a position where they 
would of necessity bear the brunt of any attack on the left must bear the blame I take 
none of it myself." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 929-930.) 

From report Capt. William C. Raulston comd'g. 81st New York, Palmer's brigade: 

"We were ordered into line at 12:30 P. M. ; formed immediately, and were ordered to 
take a position in a narrow road between the woods and an inclosure of 250 yards in 
breadth. We remained in this position for half an hour, during which time there was a 
brisk fire on our right. When the firing became general we were ordered to pull down 
the fence and advance into the field about 40 yards, when the enemy immediately ad- 
vanced to the edge of the woods and opened fire on our whole front. At the same time 
a volley came from the woods on our left. We returned their iire briskly, and after 
holding our position for some time it became e\ndent, from the destructive fire on our left 
that they were endeavoring to flank us. As we could gain nothing from the position which 
we then occupied, we retired to the cover of the woods, where we retained our position, 
firing with good effect until our ammunition was nearly exhausted and we found our- 
selves again being flanked on our left. We then moved to the right into a clearing 
beyond the woods and took a position facing the enemy. At this point there was a slight 
cessation of the enemy's fire, and we judged that they were being re-enforced. It was 
then that I first learned that the lieutenant-colonel commanding (J. J. De Forest) had been 
carried from the field badly wounded, and the major having been shot in the early part 
of the action, I being senior captain, was in command of the regiment. I immediately 
took command, and not liking the position we then occupied (the enemy, having pos- 
session of the battery on our right, were shelling our position, while we had no means of 
retahating), I ordered them to the rear of the camp of the 98th Regiment. In this posi- 
tion we did some good execution, but our batteries in front having been captured by the 
enemy, and as we were in some danger of sharing the same fate, I ordered the men into 
the rifle pits on the right, and in rear of the slashing in front of Couch's headuqarters, 
from which we were afterwards driven by the overpowering numbers of the enemy. 



172 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Our loss. * * * is killed. 26; wounded, 90; missing, 22; total, 138." (0. R. Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, part I, pp. 930-931.) 

From report of Col. Jonathan S. Belknap, (comd'g 85th New York, Palmer's brigade) : 

"According to an order received from you the regiment was placed in the rifle pits at 
the left of the redoubt, near Gen. Casey's headquarters. Our fire was reserved until the 
regiments of this brigade sent out to the slashing in front of us had been driven back and 
three rebel regiments (afterward known to be Rode's brigade) had advanced into the 
open field in front of us. We then delivered a continuous and deadly fire until they halted, 
wavered, and fell back. Their color bearer was several times shot down, and when they 
retreated to the slashing they left their colors, with their dead and wounded. Up to this 
point our loss was small and the men in the best of spirits and perfectly cool. If our 
flank had been properly protected we could have held our position. About this time it 
became evident that the design of the enemy was to mass his forces on both our flanks 
and turn them. I dispatched a messenger to your headquarters to see what the rebel force 
in that direction was. He reported that the 81st New York was being driven back by 
two regiments of the enemy, who were advancing toward your headquarters. The same 
messenger also reported that the rebel flag was planted on the rifle pits on the right of the 
redoubt, near the Richmond road. The guns at the redoubt had been abandoned for 
fifteen minutes. We were thus completely flanked and could hope for no support, for 
there was not a regiment of our troops in sight. Under these circumstances I ordered 
my regiment to fall back to the road in front of our encampment. Being still desirous 
of holding our position as long as possible, and seeing the danger of being surrounded 
was not so great as I had supposed, I ordered the men into the rifle pits again. They 
obeyed with alacrity. We held our position fifteen minutes longer, and retired only under 
imminent danger of being surrounded. The rebel flag was then floating over your head- 
quarters ; also in the immediate vicinity of Gen. Casey's headquarters, on our right. The 
heads of the flanking columns of the rebels having thus enveloped our lines, and being 
exposed to a very heavy cross-fire, I deemed it best to have the men to fall back under the 
best cover they could find. A large portion of the regiment raUied in the first piece of 
woods in rear of our camp, under command of Capt. Dark, and formed on the left of the 
81st. Deeming the position insecure, Capt. Clark ordered the men to fall back to the 
first slashing and form near the rifle pits in front of Couch's division." (O. R, Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, part I, pp. 931-932.) 

From the report of Lieut. Col. Charles Durkee (comd'g- 98th New York Vols., Palm- 
er's brigade) : 

"The regiment was placed in advance of the fort, and maintained its ground until 
flanked by the enemy on both sides by a superior force, when we were compelled to 
retire. We immediately formed behind the rifle pits and remained there until our whole 
force gave way, when we retired to the woods and formed again, but suddenly finding 
ourselves again outflanked on the left, we fell back through the woods, formed again, 
and advanced in line of battle toward the hottest of the fight. Our friends being in 
front of us, and the brush being so thick we could not distinguish between friend and 
foe, we did not prove so effective as desired. After remaining in that position about 
thirty minutes we retired from the field. Our loss in killed, wounded and missing is 70." 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 933.) 

From Capt. P. C. Regan's report (7th N. Y. Battery), Acting Chief of Artillery, 
Casey's division, after Maj. Van Valkenburgh was killed : 

"The 7th New York Independent Battery, under my command, remained iri position 
on the right of the Nine-mile road (he meant the Williamsburg road — Ed.), directly in 
front of headquarters, awaiting the signal to commence firing. Our own troops (101st 
Penna. Regiment — Ed.) were in our immediate front in the undergrowth of pines, which 
compelled us to reserve our fire for fear of killing our own men, and were compelled to 
remain under a galling fire, which wounded one man and killed and wounded several of 
my horses, without the satisfaction of replying. At a signal from Maj. Van Valkenburgh, 
we limbered our pieces and moved to the left, and took our position in battery, with one 
section in the road and the other two in the field to the right of the road, and opened on 
their advancing column and for a time held them at bay. * * * Maj. Van Valkenburgh 
gave the order to limber up the four pieces in the field. As the ground was soft and the 
guns had settled nearly up to their axles, with difficulty we got the guns out and sent 
them to the rear, while we still worked the section in the road. It was at this time the 
major received his fatal shot and fell lifeless from his saddle. At this time all the batteries 
had left the field and all the infantry in our immediate vicinity had been driven back. A 
part of the First Brigade, the 56th New York, were still disputing the ground with the 
enemy on our extreme right. Gen. Naglee ordered me to fix prolonges and fire retiring, 
which was done with one piece. The Garde Lafayette (55th Regiment, New York Volun- 
teers) came up about this time and made a gallant charge, but unfortunately got in front 



AT SEVEN PINES. 173 

of our pieces and prevented us from firing when we were able to do so. With two officers 
and one corporal as cannoneers and no lanyard or friction primers, * * * we retired, 
and shortly after received orders from you (Gen. Casey — Ed.) to collect the batteries and 
place them in position where they now are: 

"The colonel (Bailey) was killed in the redoubt in front of your headquarters by a 
rifle ball passing through his brain while giving an order to spike the guns of Co. A, 
* * * when the redoubt was no longer tenable and the large number of horses killed 
prevented the withdrawal of the guns. The major (Van Valkenburgh) was killed in the 
road between two of my guns while in action and while setting an example to the men of 
cool, self-possessed courage under a galling and terrible fire. I have received no report 
from Co. A, * * * and can only report to you the fact that their battery of six light 
12-pounders were captured by the enemy. Battery H * * * was ordered into battery 
to the left of the Nine-mile (Williamsburg) road, in advance of division headquarters, and 
opened fire on the enemy. Capt. Spratt was wounded in the shoulder early in the action, 
as was also Lieut. Howell, and the command of the battery devolved on 1st Lieut. C. E. 
Mink, who fought the battery, assisted by 2d Lieut. E. H. Clark, with spirit and bravery 
until compelled to retire by the repulse of his supports and the near advance of the enemy, 
but not until the safety of his battery compelled his retreat, with the loss of one of his 
pieces * * *. The 8th New York Independent Battery, Capt. Fitch, commenced firing 
about 1 o'clock, and fired with rapidity and eflfect on the advancing lines of the enemy until 
compelled to retire, which was done in good order * * *. 

The adjutant of the artillery, Lieut. William Rumsey, was wounded while executing 
the orders of our chief. I had orders about two hours before the battle commenced to 
harness up one section of my battery, but before I had barely time to give the order the 
order was changed, and the whole battery was ordered to be harnessed, together with all the 
batteries in the division. I could have saved my battery wagon and forge by sending them 
to the rear sooner, but did not feel justified in assuming by that proceeding that it was 
possible for the division to retreat. Two caissons were abandoned in consequence of the 
horses being killed. The battery wagon, forge, and caissons have been since recovered, with 
the exception of one limber of the caisson, which was taken by the rebels." (O. R., Ser. I 
Vol. XI, part I, pp. 918-919.) 

From Gen. Couch's report (comdg. First Brigade, Fourth Corps) : 

"About 2 P. M. I advanced with Neill's and Rippey's regiments through a dose 
wood, moving by the flank. Directing Neill where to move, and pushing on with Rippey, 
we at once came upon a large colimin of the enemy in reserve, but apparently moving 
toward Fair Oaks. Rippey's regiment was therefore posted perpendicularly to Neill's line, 
in the edge of the woods, facing to the front. They immediately engaged, but were finally 
compelled to retire, bringing in 35 prisoners. Here Col. Rippey and all his field officers 
fell, and in twenty minutes the enemy had passed over the road leading to my center, 
cutting off the advance at Fair Oaks, now reenforced by the 7th Mass. * * * and 62d 
New York. * * * After making demonstrations to cut through and rejoin the main 
body, it was abandoned as suicidal. At the same time large masses of the enemy were 
moving across the railroad to the front and right, with the intention of inclosing us. 
Therefore, with Gen. Abercrombie, four regiments, the battery, and prisoners, we moved 
off toward the Grapevine Bridge for half a mile, and took a position facing Fair Oaks. 
Soon Capt. Van Ness brought me word that Gen. Sumner was at hand. * * * This 
noble soldier came on rapidly with Sedgwick's division. * * * This was about 4 :30 
P. M. * * * Heavy masses of the rebels appeared at Fair Oaks, while large numbers 
from the Nine-miles road filled the woods. Desperate attempts were made to carry the 
batteries and center, but the destructiveness of the artillery, and the close, steady fire of 
the 31st Penna. and the Chasseurs * * * with the firm advance of Gorman's brigade 
and others of Sedgwick's division, drove back the enemy with great slaughter. * * * It 
was night, and the troops lay down in the line of battle order, generals and privates, where 
the fighting ceased. * * * The force of my division engaged near Seven Pines did not 
number over 5,000 infantry and three batteries. For two hours it maintained itself without 
reenforcements, against a victorious enemy greatly superior in numbers, and only retired, 
and that slowly, under positive orders, to a new position jointly with the troops of Gen. 
Heintzelman's corps that had advanced to our support. The 1st Long Island Regiment 
held its ground until outflanked." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 880-881.) 

From Gen. Peck's report (comdg. First Brigade. Couch's division) : 

"At 4:30 P. M. Gens. Heintzelman and Keyes informed me that the enemy was 
assailing our right flank in great force, and urged me to push forward the regiments at a 
double-quick for its support. I moved off at the head of the 102d Penna., * • * followed 
by the 93d Penna., * * * across the open field, under the concentrated fire of numerous 
batteries and of heavy musketry from the right. These regiments came into line hand- 



174 CASEY'S DIVISION 

somely, pressed forward on the enemy, and contributed their best energies to sustain their 
comrades so gallantly contesting, inch by inch, the advancing foe. For about the space of 
half an hour our lines swayed forward and back repeatedly, and at last, unable to withstand 
the pressure from successive reenforcements of the enemy, was compelled to fall back ta 
the woods across the main road. Having remained near the main road * * * until the 
troops had passed out of view, I pushed on in the direction of the road leading to the 
saw-mill. Coming up with numerous detachments of various regiments and a portion of 
the 102d Penna., * * * I rallied these men and was conducting them back toward the 
Richmond road, when I met Gen. Kearny, who advised me to withdraw these troops by 
way of the saw-mill to the intrenched camp at this place. I stated I did not feel at 
liberty to do so, unless by his order, which he gave. I arrived at this camp about 6 :30 
P. M., in company with Gen. Kearny. Finding nearly all the forces here, I took position 
in the rifle-pit with Gen. Berry's brigade. * * * At daylight on the 1st of June I was 
placed in command of the intrenchments. The force at hand was not far from 10,00(y 
men, with a large supply of artillery. Small detachments and stragglers were collected 
and sent to their respective regiments. * * * Heavy working parties, relieved at intervals 
of two hours, were employed until the morning of the 2d extending and strengthening 
the whole line of works. * * * It gives me great pleasure to say that Maj.-Gen. 
McClellan and Gens. Heintzelman and Keyes rode twice along the entire lines in the 
afternoon of this day, to the great gratification of the troops, who received them with 
unbounded enthusiasm." (O. R., Sen I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 888-889.) 

From Gen. Abercrombie's report (comdg. Second Brigade, Couch's division) : 

"At 12 o'clock M., May 31, I received notice to warn the men to fall in at a moment's 
notice. The position of the different regiments was at the time as follows : 1st Long Island 
Vols. (67th N. Y.), Col. Adams, in rear of the rifle pits near Seven Pines, on the Richmond 
road; 23d Penna. Vols., Col. Neill, and 1st U. S. Chasseurs (65th N. Y.), Col. Cochrane, 
on the road leading from Seven Pines to Fair Oaks Station and nearly in rear of the 1st 
Long Island Regiment ; 31st Penna. Vols., Col. Williams, near the railroad, on the road 
leading from the station to Richmond ; 61st Penna. Vols., Col. Rippey, near the railroad, 
on the road leading from the depot to the Chickahominy — Trent's. The duty assigned to 
the last two regiments was to guard the crossing at the depot. I received orders at 1 
o'clock to take position with the 1st Chasseurs, 31st and 61st Penna. Vols., and Brady's 
battery of 1st Penna Artillery, near the camp of the 31st Penna., to prevent the enemy from 
turning our right flank. Shortly afterward the 61st Penna. Vols, was placed in position near 
the 23d Penna. Vols., then already engaged. I was, by the falling back of Casey's division, 
entirely cut off from the regiments of my brigade engaged in the center, and have to refer 
to the reports of the regimental commanders. * * * Th cavalry outposts * * * 
reporting that the enemy was approaching, and being cut of? entirely from Keyes' army corps. 
I, with the sanction of Gen. Couch, * * * sent an officer of my staff * * * to 
inform Gen. Sumner of the state of affairs. 

"Finding my position untenable, I fell back on the road from the depot to Trent's 
house as far as Courtney's house, about half a mile, and there formed line of battle, the 
31st Penna. * * * nearest the house, behind a low rail fence, in the rear of a piece of 
woods. Two companies of the 61st Penna. * * * and 1st U. S. Chasseurs were posted 
on the right of the 31st Penna. * * *. The other troops on the ground at the time were 
62d New York and 7th Mass. * * * and a section of Brady's battery, formed on the 
left of the road. The other section of Brady's battery was placed on the right of my com- 
mand, near the 1st Minn., as soon as that regiment * * * arrived on the ground. 
* * * In retiring from my original position, the Courtney house, a few hundred yards 
to the right and a little in the rear, the column moved in perfect order * * * and 
remained until after the close of the action." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 897-898.) 

From Gen. Devens' report (comdg. Third Brigade, Couch's division ; subsequently 
attorney-general, President Hayes' cabinet) : 

"At about 4 P. M., the line of Gen. Casey then having been driven back in front 
and an ineffectual attempt to recover some portion of the ground having been made by 
the 55th New York, an order was received from Gen. Keyes that the 10th Mass. should 
advance up the Richmond road through the felled trees and endeavor to hold the ground 
in front. Col. Briggs moved accordingly up the road by the flank, and deploying, as soon 
as the ground permitted, across the road, so as to move forward by the front, found 
himself immediately assailed on the left flank and rear by heavy volleys of musketry, 
showing the enemy to have outflanked in considerable force the position occupied by him. 
Col. Briggs gallantly struggled, by changing fronts with a portion of the left wing of 
the regiment, to present a front to the enemy which should at least enable him to maintain 
his position. From the nature of the ground, entirely covered with fallen timber, it was 







The above map was sketched by Capt. John Donaghy. of the 103d Penna. Regiment. It 
shows approximately the positions of the respective regiments and batteries of Casey's division 
at the beginning of tlie battle of Seven Pines between 12 and 1 o'clock. May 31, 1S62. While 
following closely the official reports of the battle, Capt. Donaghy has added some features of 
which he had personal knowledge. A comparison of this map with the large "Century" map, 
which appears on another page, will show some differences, although Capt. Donaghy had 
the "Centui-y" map before him, and followed it where it harmonized with the official reports 
or of those competent to speak with authority. In the "Century" map Regan's battery is placed 
in front of Casey's intrenchments to harmonize with Gen. Naglee's erroneous statement. Gen. 
Casey and Capt. Regan leave no doubt as to the position of this battery, at least so far as 
to whether it was in advance or in rear of Casey's line of battle at the intrenchments. The 
second position of this battery is indicated by' the letter C. No. 18, omitted in the key of 
th<! map. indicates the location of the camp of the 104th Penna. No. 19, also omitted in key, 
indicates the location of the camp of the 56th New York; No. 15 in key gives the position of 
the 52d Penna.; this is an error; it is the position of the 56th New York; the Penna. regiment 
was fully a half mile farther to the right, supporting the pickets on the extreme right. The 
"Century" map places the redoubt too far south of the Williamsburg road and indicates no 
abatis south of the road. The abatis was much wider south of the road than it was north, 
and the timber comprising it was also heavier. The "Century" map Indicates the supports to 
Spratt's battery in rear of the guns; the 100th and 92d New York regiments were south of 
the road some distance in advance of the battery, while a fragment of the 103d Penna.. three 
companies of the 11th Maine, and the 104th Penna. were on the right, fully 50 yards farther 
west than the position of the guns. 

Capt. Donaghy, an artist by profession, was officer of the camp guard at the beginning 
of the battle. When the firing on the picket line became brisk he mounted the pile of cord- 
wood immediately in rear of Casey's intrenchments and began a sketch of the scene in front, 
while the respective regiments were hurrying to their positions in front. When the musket 
halls of the enemy began to lodge in the woodpile he realized the attack was to be more than 
a skirmish, and transferred his guard assignment to Lieut. John M. Cochran of his regiment, 
who was ill in camp, and accompanied his company (which came from fatigue duty after 
the regiment had gone to the support of the pickets) into action with the 96th New York. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 175 

not possible for him to efTect this, and the left wing was soon thrown into much con- 
fusion from the heavy fire of the enemy, thus advantageously posted in regard to it I 
had * * * sent word to Gen. Keyes of the position of the enemy on the left of this 
regiment, but, my aide returning without being able to find that officer, and the left wing 
of the regiment being much broken, I directed Col. Briggs to fall back and reform the 
regiment at the rifle-pits before occupied by him. So much confusion had been created by 
the fire on the rear of the regiment that it was not possible for him to effect this in 
good order, but at a short distance behind the Fair Oaks road Col. Briggs rallied his regi- 
ment successfully and led it forward in good order to the position indicated. Reenforce- 
ments arrived in a short time and were thrown forward to the left and front of the 36th 
New York and 10th Mass., and the fire being now heavy on the right, supposing the 7th 
Mass. to be engaged, I moved in that direction. * * * Finding the attack very severe 
upon the brigade at my right, and that the 7th Mass. was not there, * * * j returned 
toward my two regiments on the Richmond road ; but the enemy had now broken through 
our line between the position occupied by these regiments and Fair Oaks Station and 
threatened seriously to cut them off. The 10th Mass. * * * had during my absence 
been moved toward the right * * * and was. after the regiments to its right had been 
compelled to retreat, forced back in some disorder. * * * The 36th New York * * * 
maintained its position until the regiments on its right and left gave way, when it retreated 
in good order, moving by the left flank up the Saw-mill road to the rifle-pits on Allen's 
farm." » * * (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 906-907.) 

From Gen. Kearny's report (comdg. Third Division, Third Corps) : 

"On arriving at the field of battle we found certain zigzag rifle pits sheltering crowds 
of men and the enemy firing from abatis and timber in their front. Gen. Casey remarked 
to me on coming up, 'If you will regain our late camp the day will still be ours.' I had but 
the 3d Mich, up, but they moved forward with alacrity, dashing into the felled timber, and 
commenced a desperate but determined contest. * * * The next regiment that came up. 
the 5th Mich., again won laurels. * * * i directed Gen. Berry with this regiment to 
turn the slashings * * * and gain the open ground on the enemy's right flank. This 
was perfectly accomplished. The 37th New York was arranged in column to support the 
attack. * * * In the meanwhile my remaining brigade, the 105th and 63d Penna., came 
up, under Gen. Jameson, the other two regiments having been diverted, one to Birney and 
one to Peck. * * * Of these regiments the 105th was placed in the slashings. * * » 
While 8 companies of the 63d Penna. * * * were pushed through the abatis, » * * 
and nobly repelled a strong body of the enemy ***.*** This was perhaps near 6 
o'clock, when our center and right, defended by troops of the other divisions, with all their 
willingness, could no longer resist the enemy's right central flank attacks, pushed on with 
determined discipline and with the impulsion of numerous concentrated masses. Once broken 
our troops fled incontinently, and a dense body of the enemy pursuing rapidly, yet in order, 
occupied the Williamsburg road, the entire open ground, and penetrating deep into the 
woods on either side soon interposed between my division and my line of retreat. It was 
on this occasion that, seeing myself cut off, and relying on the high discipline and determined 
valor of the 37th New York Vols., I faced them to the rear against the enemy, and held 
the ground, although so critically placed, and despite the masses that gathered on and 
had passed us, checked the enemy in his intent of cutting us off against the While Oak 
Swamp. This enabled the advanced regiments, averted by orders and this contest in their 
rear, to return from their hitherto victorious career, and to retire by a remaining wood 
path * * * until they once more arrived at and remanned the impregnable position we 
had left at noon at our own fortified division camp. * * * It is perhaps within the 
limits of my report to mention Gen. Peck * * *. On the discomfiture of the right and 
center he rallied near the saw-mill several hundred of the fugitives, and was coming with 
them from there to the field when I directed them to anticipate the enemy and man the 
intrenched camp. * * * In finishing this report I trust that you will bring to the atten- 
tion of the general-in-chief that, masters of the lost camp and victorious and in full career, 
the fate of the center decided our own, and that the regiments were suddenly stopped by 
orders dispatched to them, and by hearing the fire of their support, the 37th New York, 
in rear of their entire line; but undismayed and in good order they effected their retreat. 
I add, in conclusion, that the enemy's success in the afternoon did not prevent me that 
very night from pushing forward Maj. Dillman and 200 Michigan marksmen to the saw- 
mill (one mile in advance), whence he boldly threw out reconnoissances in the vicinitv and 
to the left of the late battle ground." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI. part I, pp. 838-842.) 

From Gen. Jameson's report (comdg. First Brigade, Kearny's division) : 

"Upon arriving near the scene of action I rode forward to report to Gen. Kearny. 
* * * Gen. Heintzelman * * * ordered me to send one regiment to the right to the 
support of Gen. Peck and to bring the remaining two regiments forward to the point 



176 CASEY'S DIVISION 

where he was then standing * * *. * * * i ordered the 87th New York * * *, 
to report to Gen. Peck. With * * * the 63d * * * and 105th Penna. I filed off 
through the woods to the left of the Richmond road. I there met Gen. Kearny, who 
ordered me to advance up the road to the abatis and deploy the 63d Penna. * * * to 
the right and left of that road in the abatis, and to move the 105th Penna. * * * to 
the left on to the Richmond road to the abatis, and to deploy the same to the right and 
left of said road. The two regiments having been disposed of as above I ordered them 
to clear the abatis of the enemy, * * * which they succeeded in accomplishing after a 
very sharp engagement of about one and a half hours. Soon after my regiments had 
engaged the enemy in the abatis I perceived by the heavy firing upon our right that the 
enemy were pressing hard upon that point. As soon as our line began to waver on the 
right the men occupying the rifle pits in rear of the abatis broke and ran from the field. 
I do not know what regiments were occupying those pits. * * * As soon as I per- 
ceived the men abandoning the rifle pits I galloped to the front of them, and used every 
exertion in my power to prevail upon them to return, and hold the pits, but to no avail. 
The enemy had by that time succeeded in turning our right and our troops on the right 
were all running from the field. * * * It was with great difficulty that I succeeded in 
returning to my command, the enemy having entered the open field in rear of the abatis. 
Upon my return I found my regiments were charging the enemy through the camp in 
front of the abatis. I immediately ordered them to fall back and to the left as soon as 
possible, which they succeeded in doing with great difficulty. * * * j moved back 
through the woods to a road leading to a steam saw-mill, which road I followed to said 
mill, thence to the position now occupied by my brigade. In retreating as hastily as I 
was obliged to under the circumstances the men became more or less scattered. I com- 
menced immediately to reorganize my regiments, * * *. I succeeded in rallying between 
1,100 and 1,200 men that evening, which I placed in line on the north side of the Richmond 
road, * * * the line extending * * * to the left of the 1st Long Island * * * 
the right of said regiment resting on the railroad. The troops still occupy that line." (O. 
R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 843.) 

From Gen. Birney's report (comdg. Second Brigade, Kearny's division) : 

"At 3 o'clock P. M. I received an order from Gen. Kearny to move my brigade up 
the railroad * * *. Ten minutes after 3 o'clock P. M. my column was in motion 

* * * Before I had reached the railroad, at fifteen minutes past 3 o'clock. Gen. Kearny 
rode up to me and ordered me to return to the Williamsburg * * * road and man the 
line of rifle pits * * *. At 5 o'clock P. M. Lieut. Hunt of Gen. Heintzelman's staff, 

* * * ordered me to advance up the railroad to the support of Keyes' corps. * * * 
After advancing a mile * * * the firing became heavy upon my left * * *. Finding 
that the firing on the left was getting more to the rear, I led into the woods the 57th 

* * * Penna. and 40th New York, and succeeded * * * in driving back the enemy 

* * *. Capt. Brady * * * now rode up to me and said that he came from Gen. 
Couch * * *. At this time (about 6 o'clock) Capt. Suydam, of Gen._ Keyes' staff, rode 
up to me and told me that Gen. Heintzelman ordered me to advance still up the railroad. 
I asked him if Gen. Heintzelman knew where I was * * *. He replied that Gens. Keyes 
and Heintzelman were some 2 miles in the rear. I at once made disposition to move 
forward, throwing out skirmishers and withdrawing the 40th _ New York * * _*. The 
57th Penna. * * * were thrown into too much confusion in the woods to withdraw. 
When my lines reached the woods near Fair Oaks Station an oblique artillery fire from 
the right across my front commenced. To advance would have subjected me to this fire 

* * *. * * * Qen. Sumner sent the 7lh Mass. to report to me * * *. At this 
time Capt. Hassler rode up to me from Gen. Kearny and ordered me to return at once 
to the position assigned by him to me at 3 o'clock. Before obeying this order I sent my 
aide * * * to state that if I withdrew there would be a gap of half a mile between 
his right and Sumner's left, * * *. He still ordered me to return. I * * * pre- 
ceding my column, went to Gen. Kearny's tent, and explained * * * the position of 
my brigade. He * * * ordered me to return. I did so, and at 10 * * * P. M. 
had my connection perfect with Gen. French. I found the railroad embankment afforded 
natural rifle pits, and posted my brigade behind them * * *." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, 
part I, pp. 852-853.) 

From Col. Ward's report (Col. Ward succeeded Gen. Birney in command of the 
Second Brigade during the battle) : 

"Up to this time, 7 A. M., Gen. Birney was in command. * * * Considerable 
skirmishing took place in front * * *. About 8 A. M. Gen. Hooker with his division 
appeared in my front and * * * skirted the woods between my skirmishers and main 
body. As Gen. Hooker's command disappeared in the woods to the front_ and left the 
heavy firing to the left of the railroad and in advance, which had been continued for the 
last half hour, now suddenly ceased, and a new fire was opened in the woods to my right 



AT SEVEN PINES. 177 

and diagonally to my front. I immediately changed front, * * * and as the enemy 
advanced =* * * I gave the order to fire and * * * to charge. This movement was 
most brilliantly performed, driving the terrified enemy before them. * * * The rout 
was complete. An attempt was made by the enemy to rally a short Ume afterward, but 
it resulted in a complete failure." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 856.) 

From Capt. Pitcher's report (comdg. 4th Maine, Birney's brigade, Kearny's division) : 

"Here we remained at rest till 7:30 A. M., when, while engaged in distributing the 
morning rations * * * we were startled by a sudden and terrific volley of musketry in 
front, which caused several companies on the left of Howard's brigade to retreat precipi- 
tately from the woods, passing by us and down the railroad. I immediately formed my 
line on the railroad, at the same time endeavoring to rally the retreating companies to 
make a stand with us. Failing in this I advanced * * * and opened fire." (O. R., Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, part I, p. 861.) 

From Gen. Berry's report (comdg. Third Brigade, Kearny's division) : 
"We were at this time in the woods extending from the edge of the slashings below 
up the woods and on the left of the camping ground of Gen. Casey's division, completely 
commanding his old camp and the earthworks with our rifles. * * * We held the 
enemy in check, and could have driven them back farther had the center and right of our 
line been able to have held their position. About 5 :30 P. M. I discovered the 37th New 
York moving to the rear. * * * I then gave orders to the other regiments to fall back 
also, some portions of which did not get the order in consequence of the thick woods, but 
all did make good their movement to the rear and came into camp in order." (O. R., 
Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 865.) 

From Gen. Hooker's report (comdg. Second Division. Third Corps) : 
* * * "My command was prevented from participating in the engagement of the 
31st ultimo, as it was sundown when the advance arrived in sight of the field in which the 
conflict on that day terminated. As this was a convenient post, we bivouacked for the 
night, to be in readiness on the following morning. This was Sunday, and its stillness 
was suddenly broken a little before 7 o'clock by an impulsive musketry fire of considerable 
volume, which at once discovered the position and designs of the enemy. They had chosen 
to renew the conflict on the right of where it had ended the night before, and my com- 
mand * * * immediately advanced in that direction * * *. On the route and near 
by the enemy I passed on my right a brigade of Kearny's division, under Col. Ward, 
standing in line of battle. * * * From the beginning of the action our advance on the 
rebels Song the whole line was slow, but I could feel that it was positive and unyielding. 

* * * After an interchange of musketry of this character for more than an hour direc- 
tions were given to advance with the bayonet, when the enemy were thrown into wild 
confusion * * *. Pursuit was hopeless. This being ended, and no other fire heard on 
any part of the field the troops were ordered to return to their respective camps. The 
engagement lasted upward of two hours, and almost all our loss occurred prior to the 
bayonet charge. * * * While these events were developing on the right * * * Gen. 
Sickles was actively engaged with the enemy to the left. When I joined I found them in 
possession of the forest in our front and a portion of the camps occupied by our troops the 
day previous." (O. R. Ser. I. Vol. XI. part I. p. 819.) 

From Gen. Hooker's dispatch to Gen. Heintzelman's headquarters, June 2d : 

"I have the honor to report that I returned from my reconnoissance about 5 o'clock 
this P. M. I found skirting the swamp in front of Casey's camp, on the Richmond road, 
two roads; one leading to the railroad, the other branching toward the James River and to 
the south of Richmond. These were traversed for some distance — the former to the rail- 
road — without important discoveries. In advance of these roads the enemy appeared to 
have a regiment of cavalry and three of infantry, but as the latter were mostly concealed 
in the forest, it zvas not prudent to determine their number; it may have been much greater. 
Our pickets exchanged a few shots. On my return my command encamped in rear of 
Casey's camp, it not being possible to occupy that ground from the stench arising from the 
hodies of dead animals, and unless early steps are taken I shall be compelled to quit the 
camp now occupied by my command. I intend to make my headquarters there tomorrow 
morning. Kearnv informs me that he has moved on to the railroad." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. 
XI, part III, p. 209.) 

From Gen. Hooker's testimony before Committee on Conduct of the War : 

"The enemy was firing upon Sumner's command, which was occupying the railroad at 

the time. I made towards the heaviest fire, and came up in rear of the enemy, and in half 

an hour after my men became engaged. The enemy was utterly routed, throwing away their 

arms, clothing and haversacks, and broke for the woods in the direction of Richmond. 

* * * That was the end of the fighting of that battle. A part of my troops occupied the 



178 CASEY'S DIVISION 

camp that had been occupied the day before by Gen. Keyes' corps, and the ground that he 
had lost that day. On Monday * * * I received orders — the directions were very vague 
— to make a reconnoissance in force through the camp and beyond it. I did so without 
any resistance, except a little picket firing, and proceeded to perhaps within three and a half 
or four miles of Richmond on the Williamsburg road. I was then recalled and directed 
to establish my command on the ground that Casey's division had occupied on the first day 
of the fight at Fair Oaks." (Report Conduct of the War, part I, pp. 575-582.) 

From Gen. Sickle's report (comdg. Second Brigade, Hooker's division) : 
"At about 7 A. M. * * * we were ordered * * * along the stage road to the 
front * * *. The column * * * moved forward a few hundred yards, when I was 
directed by Gen. Heintzelman, * * * to form in line on the right of the road in a large 
field with thick oak undergrowth in front, forming part of Snead's plantation. * *. * 
Col. Hall was * * * directed to take position on the left of the road, his right resting- 
on the road, supported by Col. Taylor on the left. The 4th, 1st and 5th Regiments were 
already in line on the right. These dispositions were made under an annoying fire from 
the enemy's skirmishers * * *. Skirmishers were thrown forward, * * * and the 
line moved forward briskly on both sides of the road under a heavy fire * * *. After 
one or two volleys these regiments were pushed forward across the field at double-quick, 
and with a loud cheer charged into the timber, the enemy flying before them. * * * On 
the right the 1st * * * and 5th * * * were advanced * * * found the enemy 
* * * drove him back at the point of the bayonet across the clearing, where he disap- 
peared in the woods beyond. * * * The enemy having retired, I was ordered by Gen. 
Heintzelman to send two regiments to support Gen. Richardson, who was hotly engaged 
farther on the right * * *. Lt.-Col. Potter, with six companies of the 2d Regiment, 
was then pushed forward to establish outposts and advance to the Seven Pines, being a 
portion of the battle ground of Saturday. * * * I respectfully refer to Lieut. 
Col. Potter's report * * * for the details of his service in command of the 
outposts, which was gallantly and efficif^ntly performed until night, when he 
was ordered to bring in his detachment. * * * a line of pickets was thrown out at a 
dusk, and we remained in position, resting on our arms all night. During the night the 
enemy fell back a mile or more on Richmond, moving their artillery and wagon train 
along a road leading from the left of Casey's camp. The dashing charge of the 2d and 4th 
Regiments, the cool and steady advance of the 3d, occurred under my immediate observa- 
tion, and could not have been surpassed. The bold and vigorous movement of the 5th 
and 1st to the right was in the main concealed from my view by the heavy timber through 
which they passed. The best evidence that these regiments sustained their reputation is 
found in the fact that they drove the enemy from his position by their sustained fire and 
with the unfailing bayonet. My particular acknowledgments are due to Lieut. Tremain, 4th 
Regiment, aide-de-camp and acting assistant adjutant-general, upon whom I relied for 
nearly all the staff duty in the field throughout the day. His arduous duties were performed 
with courage, zeal and ability. * * * ^y^q fields were strewn with Enfield rifles, marked 
"Tower, 1862," and muskets marked "Virginia," thrown away by the enemy in his hurried 
retreat. In the camp occupied by Gen. Casey and Gen. Couch on Saturday, before the bat- 
tle of the Seven Pines, we found rebel caissons filled with ammunition, a large number of 
small arms, and several baggage wagons, besides two barns filled with subsistence and for- 
age. The most conclusive proof of his flight is the abandonment of six or seven sacks of 
salt, which we found in one of the outbuildings at Fair Oaks on the left of the Redoubt." 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI. part 1. pp. 823-824.) 

From Col. Hall's report (71st New York, Sickle's brigade) : 

"I marched my command on the morning of the 1st inst. in advance of the brigade 
*' * *. Not being familiar with the names of the localities * * * I am only able to- 
state that we continued our advance on the left of the Richmond turnpike, under the ob- 
servation and direct orders of Gen. Sickles, until exposed to a severe fire from the enemy, 
consisting of about four regiments, concealed in the woods directly in our front. 

"My regiment charged upon them at double-quick time, driving them from the woods 
with considerable loss. At this time I received orders to halt my command. Holding that 
position, I advanced my skirmishers about 300 yards, and then being supported by the Third' 
Regiment * * * on my left and the Fourth Regiment on my right I continued to ad- 
vance them about 400 yards farther, where they remained (about 300 yards from the en- 
emy) until they were ordered by Gen. Sickles to join the regiment. Resting on our arms- 
that night in the position above named, the regiment under command of Lieut. Col. Potter, 
next morning (Second inst.) proceeded on the reconnoissance ordered from division head- 
quarters to within about four miles of Richmond, and upon its return the regiment occu- 
pied the woods for the night about 400 yards in advance of our position on Sunday night. 
On the following morning, in obedience to orders, I advanced my regiment with the brigade- 
to the earthworks in front, where we remained until relieved this morning. During all this 
time my regiment had supplied large details for picket duty, continually under the fire of 



AT SEVEN PINES. 179 

the enemy's advance; also heavy details for burying the dead and carrying the wounded 
both of Gen. Casey's division and such of the enemy as were left upon the field after the 
battle of Saturday. 31st ult. * * ♦."(0. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 826.) 

From Maj. Holt's report (comdg. 70th New York — 1st Excelsior) : 
"At 6 P. M. we encamped for the night, and on the next morning followed the 5th 
Regiment into the field. * * * For nearly two rniles we advanced through the dense 
woods * * *. Emerging therefrom, we formed the line of battle * * *. In a few 
moments the enemy was discovered lurking on our extreme left, and before we could open 
on them poured a flanking fire along the left of our regiment. Our men, rising and rapidly 
rallying from the sudden attack with quick fire, soon drove the enemy from his position. 
After this we were ordered to the left to form a connection with the 4th Regiment, which 
we could nowhere find; hence we rested in an open field near the hospital depot of the 5th 
Maine Regiment, where we received orders to move to the right along the railroad for the 
support of a battery * * *. After the lapse of nearly two hours we marched back * * * 
to the ground near the brigade headquarters, where we encamped last night. This morning 
(June 3) at 8 o'clock we took up our line of march, following the 3d Regiment, and 
marched over the ground lately occupied by Gen. Casey's division, extending about two miles 
from our last position. Forming a line of battle, we marched through the swamp, having 
previously thrown out pickets and skirmishers into an open field to a point within 5 miles 
of Richmond. This afternoon at 2 o'clock I, with four companies from the right of our 
regiment, and two companies of the 8th Penna. Cavalry, reconnoitered the ground up to 
the open field near which our pickets were posted, and found no enemy. I was then ordered 
to reform my regiment and return to the point from which it was started, and encamp for 
the night in the woods to the rear of the 4th Regiment." (0. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I» 
p. 825.) 

From Lieut. Col. Henry L. Potter's report (comd. 71st New York, 2d Excelsior) : 
"After passing through the swamp in rear of the field lately occupied by Gen. Casey's 
command we found the enemy drawn up in large force in line of battle at right angles with 
the main road, crossing the road on a line with the house near which Gen. Casey's head- 
quarters were recently established. I posted three companies (A, B, C) as a reserve in line 
on the end of the field near the swamp, extending from the road to the left and advanced 
with the other three companies (E, F, H) as far as the road that breaks to the left from 
the main road, called the sawmill road. This road crosses the fields about half way be- 
tween the swamp where the enemy were drawn up in line of battle, and within' long range 
of the rebel pickets. On this road I posted two companies (E, H), and with Co. F, Capt. 
Donaldson, passed through the wood to the left of the field and advanced the company to a 
house in a field beyond this sawmill road, and on the right flank of the rebels there posted. 
"Immediately after daybreak, June 2, I was ordered to take command of five companies, 
and reoccupy the position of the evening previous. * * * After finding their position 
abandoned I, * * * taking Company A, * * * advanced with it to the redoubt and 
line of earthworks occupied by the enemy the evening previous. * * * Scattered over 
the fields in tents, in the houses, and under sheds were large numbers of wounded men, both 
of the rebel army and our own, in the most distressing condition, many having been since 
Saturday, May 31, without any food or attention. From the wounded we learned that the 
enemy had fallen back that morning, commencing the retreat about midnight, and that their 
rear had not been an hour gone * * * After advancing all my command to the line 
of earthworks in front of where Gen. Casey's headquarters had * * * been, * * * 
I continued to advance * * * nearly one mile in front of the earthworks * ♦ *. 
Halting in the edge of the wood looking out on an open field for nearly half a mile in 
extent we could see in the far front of the field some persons moving in the skirt of the 
wood. * * * After watching the long field for nearly half an hour without seeing any 
movement whatever, was surprised to hear a bugle sounding the advance, followed by 
cavalry filing into the far front of the field. I speedily returned to the line of earthworks 

* * *. Shortly after the Excelsior brigade had taken position * * * Gen. Hooker 
desired me to accompany him to the front of the swamp to point out where the rebel 
cavalry had been seen. Just as we were returning a party of rebel skirmishers * * * 
fired upon the general, killing one of the horses of his cavalry escort. 

"After returning to the lines, about 9 o'clock a. m., June 2, the 2d Regiment 

* * * was ordered, under my command, to deploy as skirmishers on the right of the road 
through the swamp. The regiment was advanced through the swamp, the right halted and 
posted upon a large field of "slashing," in front of which passes a road extending from 
the right of the long field in front of the swamp to the right through the timber to the rail- 
road in front of the pickets of Gen. Sumner's command on the railroad. The left of the 
regiment was deployed down this road to the edge of the long field in front of the swamp 
above mentioned about one-third of the field to the front. Across the extreme front of this 
field was a rebel regiment drawn up in line of battle, their colors being distinctly visible. 
Both regiments continued in this position until 'retreat,' when by order of Gen. Sickles 



180 CASEY'S DIVISION 

the 2d Excelsior was withdrawn within the lines and rested on their arms during the 
night." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 827-830.) 

From Col. Nelson Taylor's report (comdg. 72d New York, 3d Excelsior) : 

"About 8 o'clock P. M. (May 31), I arrived at a cross-road said to be 8 miles from 
Richmond, and receiving orders, bivouacked, * * *. On Sunday morning, June 1, the 
line was formed at 7 A. M. I was ordered to march, taking the road toward Richmond. 
After proceeding about 100 rods I received an order from Gen. Heintzelman to form lina 
and advance to a piece of wood to the left of the road and hold that position, which was 
accordingly done. I deployed two companies to the front to act as skirmishers, and remained 
in this position until 7 o'clock on Monday morning. About 12 M. of Sunday the enemy 
opened upon us from a field battery, throwing shell and shot into the woods to the front ; 
also in rear into the field, evidently trying to ascertain or drive us from our position. This 
firing was kept up at short intervals for about an hour, when it ceased entirely. About 10 
P. M. Sunday night the long roll was beat to our rear, and at the same time a noise was 
heard as if a body of troops were moving past our front toward our left. The line was 
preserved during the night, the men lying upon their arms, and with this exception nothing 
occurred during the night. About daylight, Monday, June 2, I received orders to hold my 
command in readiness to march. About 7 A. M. I received orders to follow immediately 
in rear of a battery of Maj. Wainwright's artillery. In accordance with these orders I 
moved forward about 8 A. M., and proceeded to the camp lately occupied by Casey's division. 
In obedience to orders I placed my command in the trenches as a support to the battery, 
remaining here until 3 P. M., when being ordered I returned in rear of the battery, and 
bivouacked in the woods lately occupied as a camp by a part of Couch's division. About 
8 o'clock P. M. I received orders to do picket duty with my command, to which was added 
two companies of the 5th New Jersey * * * in front and on the flanks of our position. 
In accordance with these orders I directed Maj. Wm. O. Stevens to take six companies of 
my command and proceed to the works lately occupied by Casey's division, and make such 
disposition of them as in his judgment seemed most judicious. * * * The report of Maj. 
Stevens is herewith forwarded and made a part of this report." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, 
part I, pp. 830-831.) 

From Maj. Stevens' report: 

"In obedience to instructions from you I started from camp at 9 :30 o'clock last evening 
(June 2) to do picket duty in front of the lines of this corps * •* * j found the redoubt 
and rifle pits which were formerly occupied by Gen. Casey's division unoccupied. The fol- 
lowing disposition of the force under my command was made for the night : Capt. Bliss 
occupied the rifle pit upon the right of the turnpike with one-half of his company and threw 
out the other half as outlying pickets upon his front and right flank, the left of these 
pickets resting upon the turnpike. Co. E, Capt. Toomey, occupied the rifle pit upon the left 
of the turnpike. Co. D was all thrown out as outlying pickets, the right resting on the 
turnpike and the left reaching 300 yards to the left of the turnpike; 1 sergeant and 2 men 
were thrown forward upon the turnpike 150 yards in advance of the right of the pickets 
of this company. Co. F, Capt. Leonard, and H, Capt. Doyle, were posted in the redoubt, 
each occupying a face looking to the front. Co. I, Lieut. Fogarty, was posted one-half in 
the rifle pit on the right side of the road, which runs in rear of the redoubt at right angles 
with the turnpike and in the direction of the James River ; the other half as outlying pickets, 
the left resting on this last road and the right stretching to a point near the woods in front 
of the redoubt ; three men from this company were posted one-eighth of a mile forward 
upon this road. All the outlying pickets posted 200 yards in advance of the supports 
were placed in pairs, the men lying flat on the ground, with instructions not to fire unless 
a superior force approached, and in a menacing manner. * * * At the first break of 
dawn our outlying pickets fell back upon their supports in the rifle pits, and Co. D was then 
posted in the rifle pit on the extreme left. At sunrise we discovered pickets from the 19th 
Mass. * * * half a mile in advance of our right wing and coming up to the old log 
house on the right of the turnpike. At this time I reported to you that nearly all might 
* * * be withdrawn, and by your direction I withdrew all but Co. E, Capt. Toomey, who 
was instructed to post 2 men in advance at the log house on the turnpike, 6 men on the 
road leading toward the James River and half a mile forward, and to hold the balance of his 
command in the redoubt. At 8 o'clock Co. E was relieved bv two companies of the 2d 
Regiment * * *." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 832-833.') 

From Capt. Chas. B. Elliott's report (comdg. 73d New York — 4th Elxcelsior) : 

"The regiment marched on Sunday A. M., the 1st inst. * * * second in line in 
marching on the Richmond turnpike, the 2d Regiment being in advance. They charged the 
enemy on the left of the road, this regiment doing the same and keeping on a line with 
them on the right of the road through a wood, and being engaged under heavy fire with the 
enemy, who were concealed in the woods. We continued to advance, firing continually. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 181 

until the left of our line came up to that of the 2d Regiment, who were then engaged. A 
line was formed, skirmishers were immediately thrown out, who continued to advance on a 
line with the skirmishers of other regiments until ordered by Gen. Sickles to return. We 
remained in that position until next morning, when the regiment joined the reconnoitering 
column under command of the general commanding the division. Returning, went into 
camp in the woods on the left of the road a few hundred yards in front of our position of 
Sunday night, where we remained until next morning. On the 3d inst., under orders from 
Gen. Sickles, we marched to the earthworks in advance, and remained there until relieved 
on the morning of the 4th inst." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 833-834.) 

From Col. Chas. K. Graham's report (comdg. 74th New York — 5th Excelsior) : 

"On the 2d instant, at 9 A. M., the regiment left camp and marched to intrenchments 
in front of the camps recently abandoned. There it received orders to proceed by a road 
to the left, deploy through the woods up to a small abatis which it was supposed that the 
rebels had recently placed to impede the progress of our forces. After advancing half a 
mile it reached a large abatis constructed by our forces before the position was abandoned, 
commanding the road to Richmond, which was occupied by the regiment, and a company 
commanded by Capt. Harrison and accompanied by myself was thrown forward and recon- 
noitered a distance of a mile without discovering any signs of the rebels. During the day 
two other reconnoissances were made, one in company with a squadron of cavalry. One of 
these parties exchanged shots with the rebel pickets. On the 3d instant, in the forenoon, 
the regiment occupied the position of the day before. At 3 P. M., sent out a party of 
skirrnishers under command of Lieut. Benard and accompanied by Lieut.-Col. Burtis, which 
fell in with the reserveof the enemy's pickets within half a mile of our post. Two volleys 
were exchanged, in which several of our men were wounded. Shortly afterward we could 
hear the enemy in considerable force preparing to advance. About 5 P. M. a volley was 
poured into the right flank of the abatis by the enemy without occasioning any loss. About 
6 A. M. we could hear their men distinctly advancing in double-quick. At this time I 
directed the abatis to be abandoned and the regiment to form in line of battle on the left 
flank, m order to allow our artillery to sweep in front of our position if the enemy attempted 
to advance. Here we stood on arms for three hours, the enemy no doubt abandoning his 
mtention on account of realizing the object of our movement. At 11 P. M we were relieved 
by a New Jersey Detachment." (0. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 835.) 

From Col. Starr's report (comdg. Third Brigade, Hooker's division. Gen. Patterson 
being ill) : 

"At 7 A. M. on the 1st inst. the 5th and 6th New Jersey marched forward and were 
actively engaged from about 7:15 A. M. to 9:45 A. M., * * * The 5th and 6th Regi- 
ments have been for four days and nights under arms, in battle, reconnoissance. and in 
holdmg the most advanced position on this flank of the army. They are still under arms, 
and see no prospect of an hour's rest for days to come. They have been exposed night and 
day to deluges of rain, and have suffered every species of privation incident to an army 
in an enemy's country; but among the greatest of their sufferings may b'e ranked the 
intolerable stench to which they have been and are exposed, arising from the unburied dead 
bodies of men and horses that were and are thickly scattered over the ground for hundreds 
of acres around. I have caused to be buried all my men's strength and time enabled them 
to bury, but I suffer many to lie unburied (June 4), not many hundred vards distant" 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 836.) 

From Gen. Sumner's report (comdg. Second Corps) : 

"At 2:30 o'clock P. M. I received the order to cross the river and support Heintzel- 
man. The columns immediately moved over the river and marched rapidly to the field of 
battle by two roads. Sedgwick's route being the shortest he reached the field first, Kirb/s 
battery coming up at the same time. On arriving on the field I found Gen. Couch with 
four regiments and two companies of infantry and Brady's battery. These troops were 
drawn up in line near Adams' house and there was a pause in the battle. The leading regi- 
ment (Sully's) _ was ordered to the right to protect our right flank, and the remainder of 
Sedgwick's division was formed in line of battle as speedily as possible, with Kirby's bat- 
tery on the right. One of Couch's regiments was sent to open communication with Kearny's 
division on my left, and the remainder of his command was placed on the left of Sully, and 
these troops all did great execution in the firing. These arrangements were hardly com- 
pleted when the enemy advanced upon us in great force and opened fire. Our men received 
it with remarkable coolness and returned it rapidly. * * * After firing for some time 
I ordered the following regiments, 82d New York, 34th New York, 15th Mass., 20th Mass., 
and 7th Mich., to move to the front and charge bayonets. There were two fences between 
us and the enemy, but our men gallantly rushed over them and the enemy broke and fled, 
and this closed the battle on Saturday. On Sunday morning, June 1, at 6:30 o'clock, the 
enemy attacked us again in great fury, and this time the brunt of the battle was borne by 



182 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Richardson's division. This division was placed on Saturday night parallel with the rail- 
road, and the enemy advanced across the railroad to make the attack. This was a most 
obstinate contest, continuing for four hours, in which our troops showed the greatest 
gallantry and determination, and drove the enemy from the field. * * * Gen. McClellan 
came upon the field on Sunday before the battle closed, and after looking about expressed 
himself satisfied with my arrangements." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 764-765.) 

From Gen. Sumner's testimony before Committee on the Conduct of the War: 
"About half-past seven o'clock on Sunday morning the troops became engaged on the 
railroad. It is not exactly certain which party fired first. A very severe fight continued 
there for the space of three or four hours, in which I lost many valuable officers and men. 
The enemy were then entirely routed and fled. There was fighting on the same day on my 
left by a portion of Gen. Heintzelman's troops, but that was at such a distance that I have 
myself no knowledge of the circumstances. There was no communication at that time 
between us. * * * On Sunday afternoon I received information from Gen. Marcy * * * 
that they had made the discovery from their balloon that a very large force of the enemy 
was moving down upon me from Richmond. This, however, proved to be a mistake, for 
they made no other attack on that day. * * * The battle which I commanded on Satur- 
day and Sunday was at Fair Oaks. The battle of Seven Pines was a separate battle, some 
miles from Fair Oaks. Gen. Heintzelman was in command at Seven Pines. * * * it 
so happened that the troops that I fought with on Saturday I did not bring into the fight 
at all on Sunday; they merely held their position." (Report Conduct of the War, part I, 
pp. 359-370.) 

From Gen. Sedgwick's report (comdg. Second Division, Second Corps) : 

"Upon debouching into the open field near Adams' house we found Abercrombie's 

brigade * * * sustaining a severe attack and hard pushed by the enemy. The 1st 

Minnesota * * * promptly formed into line of battle under a very sharp fire, and 

posted on the right of Abercrombie's brigade. Col. Sully's disposition of his regiment 

* * * covered two sides of Courtney's house * ♦ * The remainder of Gorman's 
brigade (34th and 82d New York and 15th Mass.) formed on the left of Abercrombie's 
brigade, where they became almost instantly and hotly engaged ; and after sustaining, 
without wavering, repeated and furious charges of the enemy, finally charged him in turn 
with the bayonet with such impetuosity as to rout and drive him from his position. * * * 
Lieut. Kirby brought his battery into action in a most gallant and spirited manner. His 
pieces, in charge of Lieuts. WoodruflF and French, were run up and unlimbered under a 
very galling discharge of musketry within less than 100 yards of the enemy, and opened a 
terrific fire with canister and spherical case, which contributed in a very high degree to 
break and finally scatter his forces. * * * Gen. Dana with * * * two regiments 
(20th Mass. and 7th Mich.) went * * * into action on the left of Gorman's brigade, 
sustaining a strong attack and participating in the brilliant and decisive charge of the 34th 
and 82d New York * * * driving the enemy from point to point for a very consid- 
erable distance. Gen. Burns with two regiments took post on the right of Col. Sully, 
holding his other two in reserve. It was not the fortune of any of the regiments in this 
brigade to meet the enemy at close quarters * * *. The 106th and 72d Penna., held in 
reserve, were several times moved from their positions to different portions of the field at 
double-quick * * *. The 69th Penna. * * * was thrown to the right toward evening, 
and held that position during the night and following morning. * * * Qn the following 

* * * morning the enemy renewed the attack with great fury immediately on my left 
and in front of Gen. Richardson's line. Parts of Gorman's and Dana's brigades and one 
section of Bartlett's battery were engaged with determined bravery. * * * After the 
close_ of the engagement on Saturday evening, the enemy having been driven from his 
position and the firing ceased. Gen. Burns was ordered to * * * protect our right and 
rear. Capts. Tompkins and Bartlett * * * arrived upon the field with their guns 
between 7 and 8 P. M. Capt. Owen arrived at daybreak on Sunday." (O. R., Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, part I, pp. 791-793.) 

From Col. Tompkins' report (comdg. artillery, Sedgwick's division) : 

"Kirby's battery * * * arrived upon the field of battle in time to participate in 
the action. * * * Capt. Tompkins * * * arrived upon the field of action just at 
the close of the engagement. Capt. Bartlett also succeeded in getting one piece across 

* * * arriving upon the field immediately after Capt. Tompkins. * * * By early 
dawn of the 1st inst. all the remaining artillery, with the exception of two pieces of Owen's 
battery, was upon the field, and at 7 A. M. the remaining section of Owen's battery arrived." 

.From Capt. Bartlett's report (comdg. Battery B, 1st R. I. Artillery, Sedgwick's 
division) : 

"Soon after daylight of the 1st I was ordered by Gen. Sumner to place two guns on 
the road near Gen. Dana's brigade. One other was ordered there soon after by Gen. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 183 

Richardson, who ordered them to shell the point of woods across the wheat field, about 900 
3'ards distant, where the bayonets of the enemy could be plainly seen. These were the 
first guns fired on that morning. During the day 56 shell were fired at that point and 
down the road across the railroad. The third piece was brought up about 9 A. M. to the 
point ; the howitzers were placed in position in front of the 1st Minn, and fired into the 
woods on the left in the afternoon. * * * This morning (June 3) seven spherical case 
were fired into the woods at 1,500 yards by order of Gen. Sedgwick. All the guns remain 
in the same position tonight. The ammunition expended is as follows : 61 spherical case, 
4 shell, and 6 cartridges from Parrotts, and spherical case and 1 shell from howitzers." 
<0. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 797.) 

From Gen. Gorman's report (comdg. First Brigade, Sedgwick's division) : 

"I was ordered to form my brigade by regiments in rear of each other in line of 
battle, while just previous to this the 1st Minn. * * *, having arrived first, was ordered 
to take up a position on the right, its right resting upon a farm house and its left upon a 
wood, m order to prevent the enemy from flanking us on the right, as he appeared there 
in great force. My other three regiments, the 34th New York * * *_ 15th Mass., 

* * * and 82d New York * * *, being formed upon the left of a portion of Gen. 
Couch's division and Kirby's battery, occupied the road immediately at the angle of the 
woods, commanding all approaches from the right, left and center. We had not remained 
longer than ten minutes in position before heavy columns of the enemy dashed furiously 
upon us, evidently attempting to take Kirby's battery; whereupon I was ordered to throw 
three regiments of my brigade upon the enemy's flank and front, then showing themselves 
in the open field. I * * * ordered the 82d New York * * * to * * * the left 
of Kirby's battery and engage the enemy as quickly as possible, which they did with great 
promptness * * *i ^as ordered * * * to move * * * the 34th New York 

* * * upon the left of the 82d * * *^ which was promptly executed, and upon coming 
into position * * * opened a most deadly fire upon the enemy and received one in 
return not less so. I * * * ordered up the 15th Mass. "" * * to the support of the 
left of the 82d New York and the right of the 34th New York, when the engagement 
became general from one end of our line to the other, the enemy pushing- forward with the 
most wonderful determination while I steadily advanced the brigade from time to time 
until we came to a distance of 50 yards, when Gen. Sumner * * * directed me to charge 
the enemy wnth the bayonet, and gave the order to the 34th New York in person * * *. 
Muskets were promptly brought down to a charge, and the men threw themselves at double- 
quick headlong upon the enemy, the 34th New York somewhat in the advance on the left 
and in perfect line, the 82d New York on the right, the 15th Mass. supporting the center. 
The enemy on the right and center gave way, but a South Carolina regiment, before the 
34th New York, brought their bayonets to a charge, and stood until that regiment was 
within 10 or 15 paces of them. I halted the 82d New York and 15th Mass. a little before 
they entered the woods, but the 34th New York plunged into the thicket some 50 paces 
before I could halt them. A farther advance would have imperiled their left flank. * * * 
This bayonet charge was made with a yell * * *. The enemy were driven from the 
field m the greatest confusion * * *. From 5 o'clock until 7:30 o'clock P. M. my 
brigade was engaged giving and receiving as severe a fire of musketry as ever was wit- 
nessed or heard * * * by the oldest officers of the army * * *. After the enemy 
had been driven from their position the brigade advanced into the woods and occupied 
during the night the ground previously held by the enemy till daylight, when they pressed 
farther on and took position, the left resting near the railroad, and the right reaching 
toward the Chickahoming. This engagement having ended at dark, left us in complete 
possession of the field * * *. About 7 :30 A. M. Sunday * * * the enemy advanced 
in greatly increased numbers * * * and opened fire upon the line upon the left, com- 
posed chiefly of Gen. Richardson's division. I was ordered * * * to * * * take 
two * * * regiments to the assistance of Richardson's division. * * * No sooner 
had they come within 120 yards of the enemy than they became engaged in a most deadly 
conflict, while the whole line along the railroad for nearly a mile seemed to have become 
one continuous blaze of musketry — the fighting being frequently at no greater distance 
than 50 yards, between heavy lines of infantry. * * * Never before have I seen more 
distinguished courage displayed, nor more determination to conquer or fall on the field 
than was shown by all our troops without distinction. The 82d New York * * * sus- 
tained by the 34th New York, and finally, in conjunction with the Irish Brigade and others 
of Richardson's division, had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy abandon the field and 
precipitately retire upon Richmond * * *. And here the battle ended, leaving us in 
possession of the field * * *." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 798-801.) 

From Col. Sully's report (comdg. 1st Minn., Gorman's brigade) : 

"We * * * reached the battle-field near the railroad station at Fair Oaks about 
4:30 P. M., my regiment leading the column, j * * * formed my regiment in line of 



184 CASEY'S DIVISION 

battle, wheeled them to the right, and, charging across the field, took my position in an 
oblique direction, my right resting on a farm house, my left on the edge of a woods. 
* * * Soon after the 1st Chasseurs formed on mv left, and a battery on their left. 
The position we have still kept." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 803.) 

From Gen. Burns' report (comdg. Second Brigade, Sedgwick's division) : 

"Arriving at Adams' farm, the leading brigade (Gen. Gorman) was formed in the 
first line of deployed battalions. My brigade formed the second line of battalions in mass. 
Before my brigade had completely formed, the enemy opened on the right of the first line. 
I received an order from Gen. Sedgwick to throw two of my regiments, perpendicularly to 
the right, to prevent the enemy from turning our right fiank and getting to our line of 
communications, j * * * deployed * * * 72d * * * and 69th Penna. to the 
right, m the woods, and advanced in line of battle through the swamp entanglement about 
300 yards, Gen. Sedgwick assuming command of * * * the 71st * * * and 106th 
Penna. * ♦ * continuing them in support of the first line. After getting my line estab- 
lished I went back to the road for more definite instructions and met Capt. SedgTvick, 
A. A. G., who told me to join the left of my line to Col. Sully's right, he forming the 
right of the first line, j * * * sent my aide to find Col. Sully's right, and directed the 
left of Col. Baxter's to join him. Supposing this accomplished, I again went back to the 
road to see what changes were taking place in the order of battle. Being unable to see 
anything in the woods, I met Capt. Sedgwick again, who informed me that my left had not 
found Col. Sully's right. I immediately rode up the road, and found that the first line had 
changed front during the battle and was in an open field nearly parallel to my new position. 
Bringing my line to the open space, Col. Baxter's left overlapped Col. Sully's right. Col. 
Owen was on his right and rear, covering the right of the road which leads from Court- 
ney's to Golding's house. Then, night approaching and the enemy being driven back, the 
battle ceased. * * * About 12 o'clock at night I was directed * * * to take the 
71st Penna. back toward the bridge crossing Chickahoming, and with it the 19th Mass. 

* * * 42d, and 63d New York * * *^ hold our line of communication, protecting the 
artillerv and ammunition, nearly all of which was mixed in the bottom on this side. * * * 
1st of June * * * arrived at the close of the battle * * *." O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, 
part I, pp. 806-807.) 

From Gen. Dana's report (comdg. Third Brigade, Sedgwick's division) : 

"On reaching the field I received an order * * * to form my command in col- 
umns of divisions in rear of Kirby's battery to support the first line of battle, which was 
then engaged warmly with the enemy, who were posted in a wood in front. * * * I 
received * * * an order to prolong the first line of battle * * * by extending on 
the left of it, and * * * to engage the enemy. * * * Before the movement was 
fully e.xecuted received a withering volley from the enemy's right at short range with 
steadiness. No sooner was my position taken in line than I discovered the rebel force in 
a slight valley in front, where he found a little cover, extending his right to outflank our 
force, and my arrival was not a moment too early. After replying to his first volley I 

* * * advanced at double-quick, dislodging him and compelling him to take cover of 
woo.ds about 150 yards in his rear. Halting a moment to reform my line I advanced again 
to force him through the woods with the bayonet. We received only a scattering fire from 
him till we came within 50 yards of the wood (it being then dark), when we were again 
met with a full volley. At this time I compelled the 7th Mich., which was on the left, to 
cease its fire, changed its front a little to meet a corresponding change of the enemy, and 
then ordered a fire by company, which was well executed in volleys. This closed the action 
for the day, and we lay on our arms, where we stood for the night. About daybreak 

* * * the enemy left the wood in front of my position and renewed his attack, by turning 
our left and attempting to pierce through our lines between this corps and the one next on 
the left. Through the bloody operations of the day this brigade held its place on the extreme 
right of our position, holding the enemy in check. This brigade acquitted itself well and 
gallantly * * *. I regret to report the loss of 16 killed and 113 wounded, including 4 
commissioned officers." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 808-809.) 

From Gen. Richardson's report (comdg. First Division, Sumner's corps) : 

_ "Nothing was seen of the enemy until about 5 in the morning. * * * At the time 
mentioned the enem/s pickets were deployed * * * and moving toward us. The head 
of a column was also seen just in the edge of the woods * * *_ Capt. Petit's battery 

* * * now opened fire * * * The skirmishers and cavalry broke and retired * * *. 
No movement of the enemy in that direction after our firing ceased could be seen during 
the remainder of the day. * * * At 6:30 o'clock A. M., * * * along the whole of 
our front line the enemy opened a heavy rolling fire of musketry within 50 yards. * * * 
Our men returned the fire with vivacity and spirit, and it soon became the heaviest mus- 
ketry firing that I had ever experienced during an hour and a half * * *. The action 



AT SEVEN PINES. 185 

had continued in this way about an hour. * * * I now ordered in Gen. Howard to 
reenforce the first line with his brigade * * *. Soon after this the * * * enemy fell 
back for the first time, * * * and for a half hour the firing ceased on both sides. 

* * * I ordered forward the 5th New Hamp. and 69th and 88th New York to take their 
positions in the front line of battle to relieve the 52d New York, 53d Penna., and 61st New 
York. * * * Xhe enemy * * * now returned to the attack. The whole of my 
division was very warmly engaged. The action lasted about one hour longer. Our line 
toward the last poured in its fire and repulsed the enemy with a general charge, assisted 
and followed up promptly by a bayonet charge on the left and rear of the enemy's line by 
two regiments of Gen. French's brigade, the 57th and 66th New York, led by the general 
in person. At the same time their retreat was precipitated by the fire of four pieces of 
Petit's battery * * ♦. The number of my division engaged was about 7,000." (O. R., 
Ser. I, Vol. XI. part I, pp. 765-766.) 

From Capt. Hazzard's report (Chief of Artillery, Richardson's division) : 

"Petit's battery (B. 1st New York * * *), arrived on the battle-field of Fair Oaks 
about 4 :30 o'clock Sunday morning, and was placed * * * along the road which runs 
north from the railroad station. In this position this battery completely defended the only 
open ground by which the enemy could approach our position, namely, some cleared and 
level fields extending west and southwest from 900 to 1,500 yards and bounded north and 
south by dense woods. Frank's battery (G. 1st New York) was placed 200 yards in rear 
and at right angles to Petit's battery, "so as to drive back the enemy should he attempt to 
emerge from the woods which line the southern side of the railroad. My own battery 
(C. 4th Artillery) was at first placed in reserve, but subsequently four pieces (12-pounders) 
were moved south to the railroad, to shell the abandoned camps of Gens. Casey and Couch, 
which the enemy had occupied. About 6 o'clock A. M., June 1, a body of the enemy's cavalry 
and infantry showed themselves in the edge of the woods and fields to the west and south- 
west of our position, but a discharge of shells and spherical case from Petit's battery drove 
them at once out of view. Very soon afterward a most violent infantry attack was made 
on our left flank, with the obvious intention of penetrating between our division and that 
of Gen. Kearny. The attack was continued by the enemy with the utmost pertinacity for 
nearly four hours, and every regiment in the division was sent into the woods and engaged 
the foe before he relinquished his purpose. Toward the close of this attack I was directed 

* * * to move four of Petit's pieces to the left, and one of the infantry regiments being 
withdrawn * * * from the woods, a well directed fire of shells and shrapnel being 
discharged through this opening in our line, no doubt contributed materially to our success 
in repelling this obstinate effort of the enemy to separate the two wings of our array. 
Very soon after the cheers of our men indicated the retreat of the foe." (O. R., Ser. I, 
Vol. XI. part I, pp. 767-768.) 

From Gen. Howard's report (comdg. First Brigade, Richardson's division) : 

* * * "At 4 A. M., my command was deployed in column of battalions in mass 

* * *. I formed the second line, Gen. French being in front. At about 5 A. M. the 
action commenced * * * I * * * was directed to detach the 81st Penna., Col. 
Miller, to prolong the line of Gen. French to the left, then formed on the railroad. * * * 
Very soon after I was advised that the enemy was moving to the left * * *. Almost 
immediately a sharp musketry fire was opened upon the left of the line. * * * I was 
directed to send the 61st New York and the 64th New York to the support of Gen. French. 
I took these regiments up the railroad, forming them in deployed line on this road in rear 
of Gen. French's left. Here I learned that Col. Miller, 81st Penna. Vols., was killed at the 
first fire of the enemy, * * * and that one wing was without a field ofiicer. I directed 
Lieut. Miles (Nelson A. Miles, subsequently Lieut. Gen. U. S. A.), my aide-de-camp, to 
collect the companies of that wing and to make the best disposition of it he could. He 
continued with it during the day in the open field on the right of the railroad, and checked 
the advance of the enemy in that direction. I immediately moved forward into the woods 
with the 61st and 64th New York. * * * I led the regiments forward, pressing back 
the enemy to and across the old road into the camp which Gen. Casey's division had 
occupied on the Saturday previous. He was in force here and I advanced to within 30 
yards of his line. At this time my horse's leg was broken, and on dismounting I received 
a second wound in my right arm, which shattered the bone, disabling me. I then directed 
Col. Barlow * * * to assume command * * *. Lieut. Miles ♦ * * commanded 
the left wing of the 81st Penna. in a manner to my entire satisfaction and approval. He 
was wounded in the foot." (O. R.. Ser. I. Vol. XI, part I, pp. 768-769-770.) 

From Col. Parker's report (comdg. Howard's brigade after the latter was wounded) ; 

"After the command of the brigade was turned over to me. which was about 10 
A. M., previous to that time having command of the 64th New York Regiment, * * *. 
The forces were then disposed as follows: The 5th New Hamp., * * * held the rail- 



186 CASEY'S DIVISION 

road on the left of the 69th New York * * *; the 81st Penna., under command of Capt. 
Nelson A. Miles, * * * on the south side of the railroad in the open field opposite the 
head of the enemy's column, and on the extreme left of the line; the 61st * * * New 
York * * * on the line of woods, in rear of the railroad, and the 64th New York 
* * * to support Capt. Petit's battery * * * The brigade fought with the greatest 
courage * * * making two successful bayonet charges, driving the enemy from the 
field in perfect disorder." (O. R., Series I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 770.) 

From Col. Barlow's report (comdg. the 61st New York) : 

"At about 7 A. M. we were moved to the railroad and formed in line of battle thereon, 
facing the south, with our right resting about one-quarter of a mile east of the station. 
Immediately to our left was the 64th New York Vols. The two other regiments of this 
brigade were not in sight. * * * After advancing some 150 yards we came upon the 
53d * * * Penna. Vols., Col. Brooke, formed in line and briskly engaging the enemy. 
I requested Col. Brooke to cease firing that we might pass in front and relieve him. This 
was done, and we at once advanced upon the enemy, who were drawn up in line before us 
and who kept up a heavy firing. After advancing some 25 yards beyond Col. Brooke's 
regiment I halted the regiment and fired one or two rounds. The enemy fell back, firing, 
out of sight among the thick undergrowth. We then moved forward in excellent order 
some 180 yards, meeting with a heavy fire, but not seeing the enemy with sufficient distinct- 
ness to warrant * * * our halting and renewing the fire.' 

"On arriving upon the crest of a hill within some 20 yards of the road running parallel 
to the railroad and directly opposite the camp of Casey's division, which the enemy had 
occupied, the battalion was halted, the enemy being plainly in sight by the roadside, and at 
once opened fire, receiving a very heavy one in return. This continued for a considerable 
time, and it was there that our principal loss occurred. We drove the enemy back, and he 
ceased firing. When we could no longer see the enemy and his fire had become slackened 
we ceased firing, and I directed my men to sit down and rest. I considered it unwise to 
advance farther, as there were no regiments on our flanks and we were considerably in 
advance of the line in our rear, and were liable to be taken in rear or outflanked by the 
enemy coming up the road if we passed beyond it. We renewed fire several times, until we 
could see that the woods and camp in our front were clear of the enemy for a considerable 
distance, when we finally ceased, and they did not again appear in our front. Finding that 
our flanks were not supported, I sent to ask Col. Brooke to bring up his regiment upon our 
line, which he did. Scarcely any firing was done after his arrival, but lines were rectified 
and the men rested. A tremendous fire was soon opened upon us from the rear, which 
would have been murderous had we not avoided the balls by lying down. * * * We 
refrained from firing to the rear in return, although it had been reported to me that the 
enemy were there, a report for which I could find no foundation. * * * Qn the return 
of Lieut. Gregory, with orders * * * for us to retire, we marched off in perfect order 
by the road leading to our right and returned to the field whence we started. We were not 
again engaged. Just before we started on our return from the front I plainly saw a body of 
the enemy advancing obliquely upon our right on the other side of this road, but we had 
cleared the woods before they reached our position. Our wounded who were left on the 
ground state that the position was occupied bv the enemy immediately after we left it." 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 772-773.) 

From Lieut.-Col. Johnson's report (comdg. 81st Penna.) : 

"The regiment took up its position early in the morning on the left of French's 
brigade, on the south side of the railroad. * * * In an instant a murderous fire was 
poured into the regiment at a distance of about 100 feet. The right wing fell back, returning 
the fire. Almost simultaneously the left flank was attacked by a large force * * *, They 
fell back, disputing the way, firing as they retired. The right wing fell back, and was 
formed by their officers in an open field on the north of the railroad. A portion of the 
left wing, being separated from the regiment, took up a position on the railroad, and 
continued firing until all their ammunition was expended. The regiment being formed, I 
took up a position on the edge of the woods, supporting the party on the railroad. I 
reported to headquarters for orders, and was ordered by Gen. Sumner to remain in the 
position I then held until further orders, which I did until I received orders from Gen. Rich- 
ardson to move to our present position on the north side of the railroad, supporting the 
line which is on the railroad." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 775.) 

In his official report of the Seven Days' Battles, Gen. Heintzelman says : 

"A few days after the battle of Fair Oaks our pickets were withdrawn from the 
position they occupied after the battle. This was in consequence of the difficult character 
of the swamp and the thick undergrowth. Our pickets being so near, necessitated keeping 
the troops more on the alert than would have been necessary had they been out the usual 
distance, thus depriving them of necessary rest. All our efforts to extend our pickets were 



AT SEVEN PINES. 187 

opposed by the rebels in the most determined manner, occasioning a daily loss on both 
sides." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 96.) 

From Gen. Meagher's report (comdg. Second Brigade— Irish Brigade — Richardson's 
division) : 

"On Saturday * * * y,^ * * * heard considerable firing in front. The firing 
contmumg to increase in rapidity and loudness. * * * About 1 o'clock P. M. I took the 
liberty of ordering the several regiments of my command to place themselves under arms 
immediatelv, anticipating that an order would at any moment reach me * * * directing 
me to proceed * * * to the scene of action. * * * it was between 9 and 10 P. M. 
when the head of our brigade entered on the scene of * * * conflict. * * * j 
received orders to throw the * * * 69th New York * * * upon the railroad 
* * *. This order was executed promptly and dashingly, a pretty brisk fire opening on 
the regiment * * *. The 88th New York * * * was ordered to occupy the railroad 
on the left of the 5th New Hamp., which regiment prolonged * * * on the left of the 
69th New York * * *. I regard the conduct of the 88th, "* * * as being especially 
effective and entitled to distinctive commendation. Had the 88th winced from this position ; 
had they faltered or been thrown into confusion when proceeding on the railroad; had the 
two companies of this regiment, which were for some minutes isolated, not sustained the 
fire of the enemy, I believe the issue of the day adversely to the Army of the Potomac 
would have been materially influenced. The conduct of the 69th was incomparably cool. 
The officers and men of the regiment stood and received the fire of the enemy whilst they 
delivered their own with an intelligent steadiness and composure which might have done 
credit to, and might perhaps have been looked for in, the mature troops of more than one 
canipaign. The creditable and memorable conduct of the 69th on this occasion was, in my 
opinion, owing in a great measure to the soldierly bearing and fearless tone and spirit of 
Col. Nugent, who, standing close to the colors of his regiment, over and over again 
repeated the order to fire on the enemy. The fire of the two regiments, in a word, was so 
telling, that the enemy, although in considerable force and evidently bent on a desperate 
advance, were compelled to retire, leaving their dead and wounded piled in the woods and 
swampy ground in front of our line of battle. * * * In making this report I find but 
one circumstance which diminishes the pleasure I feel in speaking so laudably of those 
whom I have the honor to command, and this circumstance is the withdrawal of the 63d 
New York .Vols., commanded by Col. John Burke, which regiment * * * was ordered 
to fall back and defend the batteries of the division * * *. These orders were executed 
* , * * ^^^^ promptness and full efficiency * * *. I am happy to inform you that in 
killed and wounded the brigade has lost only 2 officers * * * and something less than 
50 men." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 775-780.) 

From LieuL-Col. Kelly's report (comdg. 88th New York — Irish Brigade) : 

"By order of Gen. Richardson * * * i took the regiment across a belt of wood 
for the purpose of reenforcing * * * the 81st Penna. Vols. * * *. On emerging 
from the wood I found I had only two companies, ***.!, with the two companies, 
continued forward to the open space now occupied by Hazzard's battery, and advanced them' 
in line of battle toward the railroad under a heavy fire. Shortly after the rest of the 
regiment came up * * * where they were much needed." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 
I, p. 781.) 

From Gen. French's report (comdg. Third Brigade, Richardson's division) : 

"As Gen. Richardson had impressed upon me the importance of communicating 
during the night with Brig.-Gen. Bimey on my left, this was continually done, and he was 
kept informed of our relative positions. * * * At 5 o'clock A. M. I was authorized by 
Gen. Richardson to move the length of the front of three regiments to the left. This 
movement covered the front of the attack. In a few moments after * * * the enemy 
made an attack upon my whole front. My troops (with the exception of the 66th New 
York), to form the line of battle, had to cross the railroad through a dense thicket and 
swamp, which covered the approach of the enemy, who opened his first fire at about 50 
yards distance. * * * The first attack was at once repulsed. After a few moments' 
pause the heads of several columns of the enemy threw themselves upon the intervals of 
the regiments on the right and left of the 52d New York. For some time the most des- 
perate efforts were made to break our line. The left of the 53d Penna., consisting of seven 
companies, led on by the gallant Col. Brooke, repulsed them again, and again, * * *. I 
called on Brig.-Gen. Howard, who, with the 61st New York, was awaiting impatiently on 
the railroad in rear to pass my lines. * * * Taking advantage of the temporary cessa- 
tion of our fire the enemy threw upon the advancing supports all their remaining fresh 
troops. * ♦ * Joining himself to the 61st New York, Col. Brooke, of the 53d Penna., 
instead of retiring to the second line, continued to charge the enemy. It was now that 
■* * ■* Brig.-Gen. Howard was twice wounded, and the brave Major Yeager, of the 53d 



188 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Penna., was killed * * *. * * * About two hours had elapsed * * * I moved 
the 66th and 57th New York * * * to feel the left and rear of the enemy's flank. After 
penetrating the swamps and thicket about three-fourths of a mile the skirmishers of the 
66th encountered the 41st Virginia. A heavy fire being opened upon them the enemy broke 
and precipitately fled, when my brigade, occupying the ground thus conquered, * * * 
remained upon the field unbroken and exultant. Upon the 52d New York, Col. Paul Frank, 
and the 53d Penna., Col. Brooke, devolved the honor of holding that position of my line 
most seriously attacked, under fearful odds, against the best troops of the enemy * * *." 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 782-783.) 

From Col. Brooke's report (comdg. 53d Penna., subsequently Brig.-Gen. U. S. A.) : 

"About this time I met Gen. French in rear of the left wing of my regiment. After 
standing with him some time he asked me if my ammunition was nearly gone. I told him 
it Was, from the upper of the boxes. He told me to stand fast until he returned, and passed 
laack toward the railroad. In a few moments he returned, leading the Sixty-first New York, 
when he ordered me to have my men lie down and let the Sixty-first New York pass my 
line, which was accordingly done. The men were then ordered to fill the upper parts of 
their boxes from the box magazine, when the general immediately ordered us forward to 
the right. w.here we continued fighting until the fire of the enemy had ceased, when we held 
the position we then occupied until an order came to Col. Barlow of the Sixty-first New 
York to move out of the woods by the right flank, said orders coming from Gen. Richard- 
son, to communicate them to me also. I then followed the Sixty-first New York out of the 
woods into the field occupied by the brigade the night previous, where I again met Gen. 
French, who ordered me to the position I now occupy. 

"The firing during the engagement was very heavy. The time during which we were 
under fire was nearly four hours. The regiments opposed to us during this action were 
the 41st Virginia, 8d' Alabama, 53d Virginia, and a regiment supposed to be the 23d Ala- 
bama. Also a regiment with black slouch hats supposed to be Mississippians. My loss is 
as follows: Killed 13, wounded 64, missing 17; making a total of 94." (O. R., Ser. I, 
Vol. XI, part I. p. 790.) 

The Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War say: 

"On the 31st of May and the 1st of June the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks 
were fought. As there has been so much controversy in regard to the conduct of some of 
the troops engaged in that battle, your committee will refer more particularly to the testi- 
mony of Gen. Casey, who commanded the advanced division, upon which the attack was 
first made. Gen. Casey states that, when the campaign of the Peninsula commenced, his 
division consisted principally of raw and inexperienced troops. They had suffered greatly 
from the labors and exposures incident upon the siege of Yorktown and the advance of 
the troops up the Peninsula. Some of them had been for weeks without shelter, being 
compelled to leave their camp equipage behind when ordered on the pursuit of the enemy 
after the evacuation of Yorktown. That division took the lead across the Chickahominy, 
taking up a position at Seven Pines, where it established itself by throwing up intrench- 
ments and cutting abatis. 

"A few days before the battle of Seven Pines, contrary to the advice and opinion of 
Gen. Keyes and Gen. Casey, the division was ordered three-quarters of a mile to the front, 
within six miles of Richmond, the pickets extending to within five miles. They had no 
support on their right or their left, the remainder of the corps to which they belonged 
(Keyes') being in their rear. They at once commenced digging rifle pits and cutting abatis, 
the pickets at night being attacked by the enemy, who were repulsed. About 11 o'clock on 
the morning of the 31st the pickets reported the enemy approaching, and an aide of Gen. 
Johnston was captured and brought in with important papers upon him. Gen. Casey, with 
his aide and his general officer of the day, went to Gen. Keyes and reported the circum- 
stances to him. Gen. Keyes testifies that for some days before the attack he sent to Gen. 
McClellan reports of his condition, the threatening attitude of the enemy in his immediate 
vicinity, and urged that Gen. Sumner be sent across to his support. This was not done, 
however, until after the attack commenced. Reports continued to come in of the approach 
of the enemy. The division was called out and formed, the working men called in, and 
preparations made to meet the coming attack. Two lines of battle were formed — one in the 
rifle pits, and another, composed of five or six regiments and four pieces of artillery, about 
one-third of a mile in advance. A regiment had previously been sent out to support the 
pickets. About 20 minutes to one o'clock the enemy commenced the attack in force, sup- 
posed to amount to about 35,000 men, attacking in front and on both flanks. After fighting 
for some time, the enemy continuing to come on in force, the forces in front fell back to 
the rifle pits, and fought there until nearly surrounded. Reinforcements had been promised, 
and Gen." Casey had selected the position to which they were to be assigned ; but no 
reenforcements came up to his position until just before he was forced to fall back from 
his second line, when a single regiment arrived. After about three hours' fighting the division 



AT SEVEN PINES. ' 189 

fell back from its second line with a loss of 1,433 in killed, wounded and missing. In the 
course of an hour after Casey's division had been driven back, the remamder of our forces 
were swept back from a mile and a half to two miles from Casey's first line, when the 
enemy were checked, and the fighting ceased for the day." (Report Conduct of the War, 
part I, pp. 20-22.) 

The return of casualties at the battle of Fair Oaks, May 31 and June 1, compiled from 
nominal lists of casuahies, returns, etc., and published in the Official Records of the War 
Department (Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 757-761), give the aggregate Federal loss at 5,031. 
The Second (Sumner's) Corps lost 1,185; Third (Heintzelman's), 1,245; Fourth (Keyes'), 
2,597. Richardson's division (Sumner's corps) lost 838— killed, 32; wounded, 188; captured 
or missing, 22. Sedgwick's division (Sumner's corps) lost 347 — killed, 62; wounded, 282; 
captured or missing, 3. Hooker's division (Heintzelman's corps) lost 154 — killed, 16; 
wounded, 129; captured or missing, 9. Kearny's division (Heintzelman's corps) lost 1,091— 
killed, 193; wounded, 816; captured or missing, 82. Couch's division (Keyes' corps) lost 
1,164 — killed, 207; wounded, 818; captured or missing, 139. Casey's division (Keyes' corps) 
lost 1,429 — killed, 177; wounded, 927; captured or missing, 325. 

A summary of the foregoing extracts from the ofiBcial reports of the battle show that 
Casey's division was attacked by an overwhelming foe between 12 and 1 o'clock P. M. and 
was not driven from its position until between 3 and 4 P. M., three hours after the attack; 
that Couch's division, reenforced by Kearn^s division, was driven back, and had taken 
refuge behind intrenchments two miles in rear of Couch's line (intrenchments thrown up 
by Casey's division the previous week) before 6:30 P. M. ; that the right of Couch's division 
in position at Fair Oaks, reenforced by two other regiments of that division, had become 
isolated from the main part of the division and driven a half mile back from Fair Oaks 
and would have been annihilated had not succor come by the timely arrival of Sedgwick's 
division of Sumner's corps ; that on the following day spasmodic attacks were made by the 
enemy, continuing not to exceed four hours, the brunt of which fell on Richardson's division 
of Sumner's corps, but which were discontinued when Hooker's division and one brigade 
of Kearny's division advanced on the battle-field of the day before; that the Confederate 
forces were permitted to retain Casey's line of intrenchments unmolested until they saw fit to 
retire, which was at least half a day after they had fallen back from their last attack; that 
the casualties in Casey's division, although the weakest division in the army, were 265 greater 
than in Couch's division, 338 greater than in Kearny's division, and 90 more than in the 
three other divisions of the army engaged in the battle on May 31 and June 1. The official 
reports of the Federal commanders hastily and imperfectly made within a few hours or 
days after the conflict ceased not only make this showing, but a careful analysis of all sub- 
sequent reports and the official reports of the Confederate commanders verify it beyond 
question. This being so, why should the real hero of this battle, who had won eminent 
distinction for valor on the battle-fields of Mexico, and who was in the forefront of the 
battle from the beginning until it ceased on May 31, be forced to finish his official report 
by these pathetic words : 

"In my humble opinion from what I ivitnessed, on the 31st, I am convinced that 
the stubborn and desperate resistance of my division saved the army on the right bank of 
the Chickahominy from a severe repulse, which might have resulted in a disastrous defeat. 
The blood of the gallant dead would cry to me from the ground on which they fell fighting 
for their country had not I said what I have to vindicate them from the unmerited asper- 
sion which has been cast upon them." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, Part II, p. 916.) 

According to the official report of Gen. Sumner, Gen. McClellan must have been on 
the battle-field before 10:30 A. M., Sunday; he also inspected the lines of the divisions that 
were driven back the day before in the afternoon. In the interim, however, he sent the 
following account of the battle to the Secretary of War: 

"Field of Battle, June 1, 1862 — 12 o'clock M. 
"We have had a desperate battle, in which the corps of Sumner, Heintzelman and 
Keyes have been engaged against greatlj' superior numbers. Yesterday, at 1 P. M., the 
enemy, taking advantage of a terrible storm which had flooded the valley of the Chicka- 
hominy, attacked our troops on the right bank of that river. Casey's division, which was 



190 CASEY'S DIVISION 

in first line, gave way unaccountably and disunitedly (discreditably). This caused a tem- 
porary confusion, during which some guns and baggage were lost, but Heintzelman and 
Kearny most gallantly brought up their troops, which checked the enemy; at the same 
time, however, (Gen. Sumner) succeeded by great exertion in bringing across Sedgwick's 
and Richardson's divisions, who drove back the enemy at the point of the bayonet, covering 
the ground with his dead. This morning the enemy attempted to renew the conflict but 
was everywhere repulsed. We have taken many prisoners, among whom is Gen. Pettigrew 
and Col. Long. Our loss is heavy, but that of the enemy must be enormous. With the 
exception of Casey's division {our) men behaved splendidly. Several fine bayonet charges 
have been made. The Second Excelsior Regiment made two to-day." (O. R.., Ser. I, Vol. 
XI, pp. 749-751.) 

Twenty-four hours later he sent another dispatch to Sec. Stanton, in which he said : 

"The attack was a sudden one by the enemy in large force on Casey. On Saturday 
Casey's pickets rushed in without attemptinig a stand, and the camp was carried by the 
enemy. Heintzelman moved up at once with Kearny's division and checked the enemy. 
* * * As soon as informed of the state of affairs, I ordered Gen. Sumner across the 
Chickahominy. * * * The result is that our left is now within four miles of Richmond." 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, Part I, p. 749.) 

Gen. McClellan's first dispatch to the Secretary of War censuring Casey's division 
was published in all the leading daily papers of the country on June 2, the first announce- 
ment the public had of the battle. As soon as Gen. Casey's attention was called to it he 
protested in the following letter addressed to Gen. McClellan's chief of staff: 

"Camp at Poplar Hill, Va., June 5, 1862. 
"In the New York papers of the 2d inst. I see that Gen. McClellan reported to the 
Secretary of War that my division, in some unaccountable manner, was driven back, losing 
artillery and baggage. This statement certainly does great injustice to my division, which 
I doubt not was unintentional. Some of my regiments undoubtedly wavered, but the truth 
is, I stood with my division of about 5,000 men the attack of the enemy for about one hour 
under a most galling fire and without a man being sent as reenforcement. The division was 
not driven from its hne until it was turned on both flanks, losing the six pieces of artillery 
which were in the redoubt, and one piece on account of the horses being shot down. We 
did not retire from the first Hne until Gen. Heintzelman, with a portion of Gen. Kearny's 
division, had come up to the second line. I managed to rally a small portion of my men at 
the second line, but most of the division retired to the third line. The second line could 
not be maintained by the troops belonging to the line, together with the reenforcements 
brought up by Gen. Kearny, and the troops retired to the third line by order of Gen. 
Heintzelman. From an examination afterward of my field of battle, from the number of 
graves, and the number of killed and wounded still on the ground, I am of opinion that 
no division that day or the next killed and wounded more of the enemy than mine. You 
can well imagine that I feel much aggrieved by the remarks of the general commanding, 
but have that belief in his sense of justice which cannot conceive that he will fail to correct 
an error." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 752.) 

On the receipt of this letter Gen. McClellan's assistant adjutant-general (A. V. 
Colburn) sent the following letter to Gen. Sumner: 

"Headquarters Army of the Potomac, June 4, 1862. 
"Gen. McClellan directs me to say that it is difficult for him to decide what was the 
exact conduct of Casey's division during the fight. The report of the corps commander differs 
from the information the general had before received. The general desires that you give 
him as soon as possible, in a few words, the position and condition of Casey's troops when 
you came onto the field, mentioning any that you believe to have acted creditably and those 
who did not. It is the general's impression that that division should be broken up, and 
such portions of it as are not completely demoralized transferred to other divisions. Before 
doing this, however, he wishes for your statements in the case, to enable him to do justice 
to all concerned. Your statements will be considered purely confidential, and will only be 
used to assist the general in deciding what to do, so that no one shall be treated unjustly." 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI. p. 750.) 

The official reports do not give Gen. Sumner's reply to this communication, but he 
evidently informed Gen. McClellan that he was at no time within a mile of Casey's line 
of battle, nor had any opportunity to see any of his troops, except the pickets who were 
on duty from two to three miles away from where the battle began. To have gone to such 
a source for information as to the position and condition of Casey's troops is evidence that 
the commanding general had no correct comprehension of the lines of battle, or the position 
of Casey's troops. His official report, dated fourteen months later, gives evidence that he 



:- ■w^.'-S'"<if-ai-y.;«5-J»; 



liatW; ^iV 




THE TWIN FARM-HOUSES BEHIND 

CASEY'S REDOUBT i seen indis- 

liiKth- on the left). 

(From a photograph.^ 

- The upper picture looks toward Rich- 
niorul; the grrove i:tunds between the AVil- 
liaiu.«burs siape road and the houses, 
which front squarely on the road, per- 
haps noo feet awa.v. Four liundred dead 
of the battle of Seven Pines were buried 
in the foregiound (behind the houses), 
where also stood a part of Casey's camp. 

The foreground of the lower picture 
sliows either a corner of Casey's redoubt 
or the A\-orks between it and the ■Wil- 
liamsburg road. 

On the Official Map of the Campaign of 
1S64 the twin bouses are named "Kuhn." 
In 1SS6 only one of them remained. A 
pei-simmon tree stood at that time on the 
site of Casey's redoubt, and there were 
slight traces of the old earthworks that 
for the most part were erected after the 
liattle of Seven Pines. 



THE TWIN FARM-HOUSES AS SEEN FROM 
CASEY'S REDOUBT. 
(From a phoiograph.) 



The above cuts and text are from the "Centuiy AVar Series." and appear in -'Battles 
and Leaders of the Civil War." Bv courtesy of the Century Company duplicate plates were 
secured for this volume. To the right of the foreground of the upper picture was the site of 
Palmers camp, the western edge of which almost reached to the ground shown here. 

Between the foreground of the lower picture and trees in front of the houses was the 
woodpile, consisting of fom-foot cordwood. ov^r a hundred feet long and twelve feet high. 
In IHi'T lif-tween the foreground of the lower picture and the trees, and extending west of 
the fon-around. was an apple orchard, which seemed to be dying of old age or through lack 
of care. ^ Wild blackberrv bushes covered the site of Casey's ledoubt. The distance between 
the frnni of the "twin houses" in the lower picture and the Williamsburg road is 4(iO feet. 
This was the site of Wessells' camp, the western edge of which was only a few .vards east 
of the woodpile, extending east along the southern side of the road. The eastern house (at 
the right <.f the upper picture i was still standinc and occupied during the summer of 190,. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 191 

never knew where the fiercest part of the battle was fought, notwithstanding he gets credit 
for being present before the battle ended. Even Gen. Sumner, who is credited with being 
the hero of the battle, had a peculiar conception of the battle-field of Fair Oaks or Seven 
Pines. When testifying before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the 
War in 1863, he was asked the following question by one of the committee: 

"Who had command at the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines? They are the same 
thing under two names, I understand?" To this he replied: "No, sir; they were two 
distinct places. The battle which I commanded on Saturday and Sunday was at Fair Oaks. 
The battle of Seven Pines was a separate battle, some miles from Fair Oaks. Gen. Heint- 
zelman was in command at Seven Pines." (Report Conduct of War, part I, p. 362.) 

It is relevant here to call attention to a different statement made by Gen. Sumner 
in his testimony from the closing paragraph of the official report he furnished to the com- 
manding general. In the report he said: "Gen. McClellan came upon the field on Sunday 
before the battle closed." In his testimony he said: "Gen. McClellan came over to me at 
Fair Oaks about 12 o'clock on Sunday. The action of Sunday had then ceased." 

On June 4, Gen. Naglee, commanding the First Brigade of Casey's divisioin, sent the 
following communication to Brig.-Gen. S. Williams, assistant adjutant general of the Army 
of the Potomac: 

"I would respectfully request that the commanding general shall appoint a proper 
board of officers to investigate and report upon certain charges made against Casey's 
division, that the truth mav be known concerning their conduct and that of others engaged 
in the affair at the Seven 'Pines, on May 31 and June 1 and 2." (0. R., Ser. I, Vol, XI, 
part I, p. 750.) 

This communication was forwarded to army headquarters through the proper channel. 
Gen. Casey indorsing it as follows : 

"I feel confident that the general commanding could not have been possessed of the 
whole truth with regard to the affair of the 31st ult., or he would not have made the remark 
he did about my division. I feel that injustice has been done." 

Gen. Keyes in his indorsement approved the application requesting that a board of 
officers be named. On June 5, Gen. Williams replied to this communication, addressing it 
to General Keyes, as follows: 

"* * * I am directed by the commanding; general to say that he is fully disposed 
to render entire justice to Casev's division, and will be glad to embrace any opportunity to 
manifest this disposition. A board of officers of high rank cannot conveniently be sum- 
moned now to 'investigate and report' as requested. As soon as the exigencies of the 
service permit, however, it shall be done. Meanwhile an inspector general will be directed 
to proceed and make a preliminary investigation. I am to assure you that it will afford the 
general commanding sincere pleasure should the facts prove such as to require a change of 
his expressed views, founded upon his official statements, in regard to the conduct of Casey's 
division on the 31st ult." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 752.) 

However, Gen. McClellan, late that same night, sent the following dispatch to the 
Secretary of War : 

"My dispatch of the 1st instant, stating that Gen. Casey's division, which was with 
first line, gave way unaccountably and discreditably, was based upon official statements 
made to me before I arrived upon the battle-field, and while I was there by superior com- 
manders. From statements made to me subsequently by Gens. Casey and Naglee I am 
induced to believe that portions of the division behaved well and made a most gallant stand 
against superior numbers, but at present the accounts are too conflicting to enable me to 
discriminate with certainty. When the facts are clearly ascertained the exceptional good 
conduct will be properly acknowledged." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 754.) 

In Gen. Williams' reply to Gen. Naglee's request for an investigation he said : "Mean- 
while an inspector general will be directed to proceed and make a preliminary investigation." 
The inspector general made the investigation the same day he was 'directed to proceed' 
to make it and submitted the following report:" 

"Inspector General's Dept., Army of the Potomac, 

Camp Near New Bridge, Va., June 5, 1862. 

General R. B. Marcy, Chief of StaflF. ■ ^- a- . a • 

General • I have the honor to report that I have made the examination directed in 
Casey's division and report thereof as follows: Strength present accounted for averages 



192 CASEY'S DIVISION 

in — First Brigade, 340 per reg't and 5 regiments, 1,700; Second Brigade, 348 per reg't and 
4 regiments, 1,392; Third Brigade, 345 per reg't and 4 regiments, 1,380. Making a total in 
this division of 4,472. The numbers in Third Brigade I did not get, and those of Second 
Brigade are given, as reported, approximately correct. I expect a detailed report from 
Second and Third brigades soon. Reported loss in this division, 1,845 ; in First Brigade 
521 and Second Brigade 553, total 1,074, which leaves for the loss of Third Brigade 771. 
Several who were reported missing in first reports have since reported to their regiments. 
From information gained from a variety of sources, within and without the division, it 
appears there was exhibited both gallant and bad conduct in this division in its recent 
engagement with the enemy at the battle of Fair Oaks, and although attacked by an over- 
whelming force, it poured a most destructive fire upon the enemy, as shown by the large 
number of his dead left on the field, and checked his advance. The first line of rifle pits 
were not left until flanked by the enemy's fire, but were then left in disorder. At the second 
hne of rifle pits or trenches the men of this division rallied in part and again caused the 
enemy to sufifer by their fire. The actual loss of killed a td wounded in this division proves 
conclusively that it was exposed to a heavy fire. As reported, the men did not run when 
falling to the rear, but walked and were in disorder and generally had their arms, but they 
could not be rallied by their officers in their original organizations. Regimental line officers 
in some cases set their men the example of breaking to the rear. Of the number at first 
reported missing several have since joined; others are said to be about in the woods. Many 
were supposed to have gone toward the White House. In this division there are many 
worthy of praise for good conduct who suffer for the bad conduct of others. 

"Remarks. — Casey's division at the recent battle of Fair Oaks was not surprised 
according to reports made to me, but defective disposition of picket forces and inefficiency 
of officers, together with bad discipline, account for its conduct, in my opinion, in this 
battle. As a division I do not think it could be trusted by itself in another engagement 
with the enemy soon, believing the shock and repulse it received in the last action has too 
much demoralized the men and officers to safely count upon their making a firm stand. 
The best disposition to make of the troops of this division under existing circumstances is 
to consolidate regiments, weeding out inefficient officers, and tp combine them with other 
troops, in my opinion. I would break up the division organization, but not the brigade 
altogether. Efficient officers, associated with good troops and proper encouragement wilU 
I think, work great changes for the better of this command. * * * 

"X. (Nelson) H. Davis, Asst. Inspector Gen'l U. S. A." 

(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 753-754.) 

Surely the fates had decreed that Casey's division should suffer ignomy ! It was 
not enough that this dispatch of the commanding general of the army pillorying this division 
for poltroonery should go the rounds of the press of the country once, but it must be 
repeated a few days later, and even in worse form. The hero of the battle, Gen. Sumner,, 
had not received sufficient notice; owing to a bungle somewhere in transmission of the 
dispatch his name had been omitted in a paragraph. Gen. McClellan hastened to apologize 
for this seeming neglect by sending the following message to Gen. Sumner : 

"My telegraphic dispatch to Secretary of War in regard to battle of Fair Oaks is 
incorrectly printed in the Herald in several particulars. I am there made to say that we 
succeeded by great exertions in bringing across Gens. Sedgwick's and Richardson's division. 
I merely wrote that Gen. Sumner succeeded, etc. I then appreciated what you had done, 
and wished to have it known as soon as possible. I will send you copy of my dispatch as 
written and sent. By some strange chance most of my dispatches in these days are changed 
and mutilated before publication." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, p. 750.) 

Gen. Sumner was not satisfied with a copy ; he wanted the country to know how he 
had served it, and he replied in these curt words : 

"Gen. McClellan — Sir : Will you please do me the justice to have your dispatch about 
the battle of Fair Oaks published as it was written?" (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 657.) 

On the same day the following dispatch was sent to Secretary Stanton by Gen. 
McClellan : 

"My telegraphic dispatch of June 1 in regard to battle of Fair Oaks was incorrectly 
published in newspapers. I send with this a correct copy, which I request may be published 
at once. I am the more anxious about this since my dispatch, as published, would seem to 
ignore the services of Gen. Sumner, which were too valuable and brilliant to be overlooked, 
both in the difficult passage of the stream and the subsequent combat. The mistake seems 
to have occurred in transmittal of the dispatch by the telegraph." 

The corrected dispatch read as follows : "We have had a desperate battle, in which 
the corps of Sumner, Heintzelman and Keyes have been engaged against greatly superior 
numbers. Yesterday at 1, the enemy, taking advantage of a terrible storm, which had. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 198 

flooded the Valley of the Chickahominy, attacked our troops on the right bank of that river. 
Casey's division, which was the first line, gave way unaccountably and discreditably. This 
caused a temporary confusion, during which some guns and baggage were lost, but Heint- 
zelman and Kearny most gallantly brought up their troops, which checked the enemy. 
At the same time, however, Gen. Sumner succeeded by great exertions in bringing across 
Sedgwick's and Richardson's divisions, who drove back the enemy at the point of the 
bayonet, covering the ground with his dead. This morning the enemy attempted to renew 
the conflict but was everywhere repulsed. We have taken many prisoners, among whom 
are Gen. Pettigrew and Col. Long. Our loss is heavy, but that of the enemy must be 
enormous. With the exception of Casey's division our men have behaved splendidly. 
Several fine bayonet charges have been made. The Second Excelsior made two to-day " 
(0. R., Ser. I. Vol. XI, part I, p. 751.) 

On June 17 Gen. Naglee sent the following communication to Gen. Williams : "The 

action of Gen. McClellan in regard to my communication to you of the 4th instant was not 
communicated to me until the 14th. I would respectfully request you send me at your 
earliest convenience a copy of the dispatches sent by Gen. Heintzelman and others to Gen. 
McClellan upon which he based his dispatch to the Secretary of War on the 1st of June 
respecting the battle of Fair Oaks, that I may place on record in your office a statement 
of facts in direct refutation of the same." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 755.) 

This called forth the following reply from Gen. Williams, dated June 20, 1862 : 

'"Tour letter of the 17th instant, applying to be furnished with a copy of the dispatches sent 
by Gen. Heintzelman and others to Gen. McClellan upon which he based his dispatch to the 
Secretary of War of the 1st of June respecting the battle of Fair Oaks, has been received. 
In advance of the rendition of the official reports to the War Department the general com- 
manding does not deem it proper to furnish copies of papers on file pertaining to the opera- 
tions of the campaign. His dispatch of the 1st of June was, however, published by the 
War Department, and its contents are known to you. It is not thought that Gen. Heintzel- 
man's dispatches will be of any material value to you in preparing a statement of facts in 
refutation of matter in the general's telegram objectionable to yourself. You are aware 
that a subsequent dispatch to the War Department from the general commanding sus- 
pended the judgment of the behavior of Casey's division, on the 31st of May, conveyed in 
his dispatch of June 1, until further investigation shall enable him to do justice to the good 
conduct which was displayed by portions of the divisions on that day. The general com- 
manding would be glad to receive any statement throwing light upon the occurrences of the 
31st ultimo as far as Casey's division is concerned. His only desire in the premises can be 
to do full justice to any portion of the troops engaged." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, 
p. 756.) 

In the wide search the writer has made he has found no dispatches from Gen. 
Heintzelman to Gen. McGellan of the afternoon of May 31 or the whole of the next 
day, except those published in the official records. That Gen. McGellan based his 
censorious message on these dispatches is evident, although in his official report he says 
he received information previous to his arrival on the battle-field, to the effect that Casey's 
division had given way without making proper resistance, and that this influenced him in 
shaping his telegram. This information was evidently acquired in a similar manner to that 
of Gen. Heintzelman's from persons who were a mile or more in the rear of where Casey's 
troops were holding an overwhelming force of the enemy in check. There is little doubt 
that the accusations against Casey's troops were honestly made. The scene to one a 
mile or more in the rear, after the battle had been raging a half hour or more, must have 
had the appearance of a rout. To this phase of the situation the writer will refer again. 
The following dispatches from Gen. Heintzelman or his headquarters to Gen. McClellan 
or to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac during the battle and a day or two 
afterwards, will in a measure indicate whether the commanding general of the army was 
justified in censuring the rawest troops in his army in so conspicuous a manner. They 
are given in full : 

At the Front, May 31, 1862, 6 p. m. 

Gen. McClellan : Our troops on the road have given way. Birney is advancing on 
the railroad. Our left still holds its own. [O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 646.] 

S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, May 31, 1863, 6 :20 p. m. 
Col. Colburn : Gen. Casey's division is being rallied by Lieuts. McAlester, Hunt and 
Johnson, of the general's staff. Gen. Casey is reported dead. Lieut. McAlester reports that 



194 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Gen. Kearny is at the Seven Pines, driving the enemy baclc slowly. Gen. Sumner's column 
is just arriving on the ground. Gen. Hooker's about half a mile in rear of these headquar- 
ters. [O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 646.] 

C. McKEEVER, Chief of Staff. 

Head Qrs. Army of the Potomac, May 31, 1862. 

Col. Colburn : Gen. Casey's division is entirely demoralized. Gens. Casey and Palmer 
are reported killed and Gen. Naglee wounded. I have been able to find but one colonel, and 
he says the men have nothing to eat. C. McKEEVER, Chief of Staff. 

P. S. — It is reported that some of the regiments of Gen. Peck's brigade have broken 
and dispersed. [0. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 647.] C. McK. 

Head Qrs. 3rd Corps, Savages, May 31, 1862, 8:45 p. m. 
Gen. Marcy, Chief of Staff: I am just in. When I got to the front the most of 
Gen. Casey's division had dispersed, and our fortified position was lost. I ordered up all 
Kearny's and the most of Hooker's division. We checked the enemy and was outflanking 
him on his right, when our center gave way and eventually our left had to follow. A num- 
ber of pieces of artillery were lost before I arrived; how many I am not able to say. I 
ordered up a brigade on the railroad, but it advanced so slowly that it arrived too late to 
prevent the disaster to our center. We have fallen back to the rifle-pits first constructed 
by Gen. Casey, and now hold them. I have no idea of our loss. The rout of Gen. Casey's 
men had a most dispiriting effect on the troops as they came up. I saw no reason why we 
should have been driven back. [0. R., Ser. I. Vol. LI, part I, p. 645]. 

S.P.HEINTZELMAN. 

Head Qrs. Third Corps, Savage's, May 31, 1862, 9:15 p. m. 
Gen. McClellan : I returned here half an hour since. I got information of the 
attack about 2 p. m., and sent reenforcements at once, at the same time going to the front. 
I soon met the fugitives of Gen. Casey's division, and learned that the most of them had 
given way. When I got forward I found the enemy had possession of our front lines. 
When the reenforcements came up I put them into the woods on the left to turn the 
rebel flank and capture their artillery. Another portion advanced in the center and a 
brigade was ordered up on the railroad. The firing soon became tolerably heavy and the 
center gave way, necessitating the left to fall back. Had the brigade I ordered up on the 
railroad advanced promptly, this disaster to our center might have been repaired, if not 
prevented. We had fallen back to some unfinished rifle-pits less than a mile in front of 
this position. How much artillery we have lost I am unable to tell, as it was lost before 
I got up. Our loss in killed and wounded is considerable. I have ordered up ammunition 
and intrenching tools. The stragglers of Gen. Casey's division had a most dispiriting 
effect, and our troops did not fight well. [0. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 646.] 

S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Head Qrs. Third Corps, May 31, 1862, 10 p. m. 
Gen. McClellan : I have sent across Bottom's Bridge for our ammunition, and it 
will be up before daylight. My corps is supplied with three days' rations. Gen. Keyes 
thinks that Gen. Couch's is supplied till tomorrow night. They are now issuing to Gen. 
Casey's. Gen. Casey's division cannot, however, be relied upon for any purpose whatever. 
The intrenching tools must be left at this place. We are much in want of them. [O. R., 
Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 647.] S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Rifle- Pits, June 1, 1862, 8:30 a. m. 
Gen. McClellan : We are driving the enemy back. The Second Excelsior drove the 
enemv back with the bayonet. They are falling back on the right and left on the railroad. 
[O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 649.] S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

At Rifle-Pits. June 1, 1862, 9 a. a. 
Gen. McClellan : We have driven the enemy in front. I have a report that they 
are trying to outflank us on our left with 6,000 or 8,000 men. I need reenforcements, as 
Casey's division is not of any use, and the other division not very effective. [O. R., Ser. 
I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 649.] S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Head Qrs. Third Corps, Savage's, June 2, 1862, 6 a. m. 
Gen. R. B. Marcy: An officer went out at daylight; has just returned. The enemy 
has fallen back from our front, where they were in strong force last evening with artillery 
and infantry. They retreated on the Williamsburg Road. Our pickets are half a mile 
beyond Gen. Casey's old camp. [O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 653.] 

S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Head Qrs. Left of Line, June 2, 1862, 11 :45 a. m. 
Gen. Marcy: Gen. Hooker reports that he is two miles in advance of Casey's Camp 
and about four miles from Richmond, with seven regiments of infantry and one 
regiment of cavalry (Gregg's 8th Penna.). The rebel pickets fell back as he advanced. 



AT SEVEN PINES. 195 

He has seen no large body of the enemy. The roads are impassable for artillery. What 
order shall I give Gen. Hooker for tonight? He is advancing with great caution. [O. R., 
Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 654.] S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Head Qrs. Third Corps, Savage's, June 3, 1862. 
Gen. R. B. Marcy: The condition of Casey's old camp is such from the large num- 
ber of dead horses lying around that it is impossible for any troops to occupy it 
or its immediate vicinity. I propose to have Gen. Hooker's division, the portion that is 
in advance, occupy the fields in front of the lines we occupied on Sunday. Our pickets, 
with a sufficient support, can remain in front of this line (Casey's). No troops, rebel or 
ours, can occupy the space of nearly a mile from Casey's position toward the rear. The 
swamp in front, but in rear of our pickets, is filled with abandoned rebel wagons with 
provisions Gen Hooker is of the opinion that the enemy is out in force in our immediate 
front, [d. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part I, p. 655.] S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Although the constant iteration of the delinquencies of Casey's division 
in these messages may have justified the commanding general in calling the 
attention of the country to the shortcomings of this division in so conspicuous 
a manner, ought not a careful reading of the dispatches have caused him to withhold the 
emphasis he gave to it in concluding his telegram? But had Gen. Heintzelman sufficient 
reasons for such constant hammering of the division which had been doing the heaviest 
work of the part of the Army of the Potomac under his command? What was the 
motive for his persistency in discrediting the troops of this division? Such questions 
naturally arise in the minds of those who know the treatment was unjust. Col. Davis 
states in the history of his regiment (104th Penna.) that Heintzelman had the reputation 
of being the enemy of Gen. Casey. This cannot be the reason, although it may have been 
contributor^'. Certainly a kindly feeling for his classmate at West Point and also as a 
brother officer of years' standing in the same regiment of the regular army should have 
restrained him from his persistency in discrediting the troops of this comrade in arms. 
So far as the writer can find, there is no evidence of animosity or ill feeling between these 
two generals, more than has been made manifest in Gen. Heintzelman's official dispatches 
and report. The fact that Gen. Casey succeeded in obtaining first merit for distinguished 
services in the Mexican war may have been a motive for jealousy, or there may have been 
personal friction because of continued servnce in the same regiment, but that would rather 
have tended to restrain than to incite undue criticism. These were not the reasons. One 
need not look far, however, for an impelling motive for Gen. Heintzelman to make a 
scapegoat of the division first routed in the battle. The rout of the Federal troops on 
May 31, so far as it has been attributed to lack of generalship, has been imputed to Gen. 
Casey; and most of the writers that have absolved him have shown undue animus against 
Gen. McQellan and attributed the disaster to him. That Gen. Casey was in no sense 
responsible is apparent by a perusal of the record. As he and his comrades have long 
since passed beyond the vale of calumny and invective, reason must take the place of 
passion. The official reports and the testimony before the committee on the conduct of 
the war of Gens. Heintzelman, Keyes, and Casey establishes beyond dispute three impor- 
tant facts, which, when duly considered, will give a reason why Gen. Heintzelman threw 
the responsibility of the rout of his command on the "raw" troops of Casey's division. 
First : The position occupied by Casey's troops was precarious and could not be defended 
against an overwhelming attack without reenforcements. Second : Casey's division, although 
considered by the corps commander "as a matter of pickets," not only gave sufficient alarm 
of a formidable attack, but also held the enemy in check long enough for the reenforce- 
ments to have reached the intrenched line in front of Seven Pines. Third : Gen. Heintzel- 
man did not send forward reenforcements promptly, even after hearing heavy firing of 
artillery and musketry, because "we had it before." 

Neither in his official report nor in his testimony before the congressional committee 
does Gen. Heintzelman give the time of his arrival on the battle-field, but he does make it 
clear that he did not arrive until after Casey's division had been driven back on to Couch's 
line. Gen Keyes modifies his official report and takes it about 4 P. M. In his official report 
Gen. Heintzelman says : 

"Believing the position in front of the Seven Pines to be a critical one, and not hav- 



1% CASEY'S DIVISION 

ing entire confidence in the raw troops comprising the division of Gen. Casey, I sought and 
obtained permission on Friday afternoon to advance a portion of my corps from its position 
near Bottom's Bridge. The order was to make such disposition of the troops as I saw fit. 
I immediately ordered two brigades of Kearny's division to move forward on the Wil- 
liamsburg stage road and encamp about three-quarters of a mile in advance of Savage 
Station." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 813.) 

The above, fully confirming his testimony before the congressional committee, places 
the full responsibility for the movement of the troops on the south bank of the railroad 
upon Gen. Heintzelman. Although regarding the position of Gen. Casey to be a critical 
one and lacking confidence in his troops, he permitted these raw, undisciplined men to 
withstand the assault of an overwhelming force at least two hours without growing 
uneasy and yet he had felt that the troops had been too much scattered. He says : 
"About 1 o'clock, there was considerable heavy firing of artillery and musketry. As we had 
it before, it did not cause me much uneasiness, until I found it was continued." If the 
general to whom the welfare and command of the army had been entrusted, and who 
regarded the position of his advance division as critical, felt no uneasiness when the infantry 
and artillery were both heavily and continuously engaged with the enemy, should not some 
charity have been shown the raw, undisciplined troops for loitering away from their camps 
after the firing began? Had they not stood in line of battle for hours the two previous days 
expecting an enemy who only drove in the pickets? Why should they rush to their camp 
because the pickets were firing? In this statement of Gen. Heintzelman is an admission 
which places the responsibility of the disaster to Casey's troops on the general commanding 
the left wing of the army. Gen. Keyes says that he sent for reenforcements to Gen. 
Heintzelman about one o'clock, but for some reason his messenger was unaccountably 
delayed. It would seem that after two weeks (his report is dated June 13, 1862) his 
messenger should have been able to explain the delay. Gen. Heintzelman says that he 
received a note at 2 P. M. from a staff officer of Gen. Keyes, asking for two brigades. If 
this were so, why did an hour elapse before Gen. Kearny received the order to advance 
his first brigade? Is it not possible that either or both Gens. Sumner and Kearny may 
have been absent from their commands at the time, inasmuch as the commanding general of 
the left wing had no apprehension of a battle even after it had been waged an hour or 
more? There is evidence, not in the official report however, that Gen. Kearny was not 
with his command durin? the first hour of the battle. Brev.-Brig. Gen. Francis W. Palfrey, 
in a critical paper, prepared for the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, and 
read at a meeting of the society and subsequently published with other military papers on 
McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, entitled "After the Fall of Yorktown," says: 

"As for Kearny, I saw him myself that day, as I returned from dining with Gen. 
Sumner near Tyler's house. I think I saw him as late as two o'clock ; and as he was 
riding east, away from the river, * * * and so was late in getting his men forward." 

The Tyler house was on the east bank of the Chickahominy river, midway between 
the positions of Richardson's and Sedgwick's divisions before they moved on May 31. But 
even if Gen. Heintzelman was derelict in duty that is no excuse for discreditable action on 
the part of Casey's troops. Volumes have been written as to the discreditable rout of 
Casey's division, and yet the writer has been unable in all his researches, in the libraries of 
the principal cities of the country, to find that any one of the writers was within a mile 
of where Casey's first line held the enemy in check for over an hour, or within three-fourths 
of a mile of his intrenched line which the enemy did not reach for nearly three full hours 
after the attack was made. That there were many of Casey's troops panic-stricken early in 
the fight it is useless to deny. Every regiment had its quota at some stage of the battle. 
But the officer or enlisted man of the regiments of the two other divisions that participated 
south of the railroad on Saturday who will deny the same condition did not obtain in his 
own regiment more or less, will discredit himself with any one conversant with the true 
condition of affairs that afternoon. The entire left wing of the Army of the Potomac was 
bordering on a panic, and had not the shadow of evening come when it did, notwithstanding 
the arrival of Sumner and Hooker, there is little doubt that the two corps south of the rail- 
road would have been driven pellmell into the Chickahominy. Even as it was, with night 



AT SEVEN PINES. 197 

intervening, with Sumner's entire corps across the river, with the Confederate peneral who 
planned the battle wounded and hors de combat, no attempt was made to retake the posi- 
tion Casey had occupied until the enemy had retired. This is history. It was not the 
arrival of Sumner that saved the day. It was the God of Battles, who had decreed that 
human slavery on this continent should end, and that this grand army, which as yet was 
fighting for the Union with chattel slavery, needed chastening. Night came on and 
checked the forward rush of the victorious enemy, who then had the Federal army on 
the south bank of the Chickahominy practically cut in twain, and these two fragments 
of the left wing completely isolated from the right wing. Before dawn the Confederates 
had an opportunity to count the cost of the first day's victory. The result was appalling. 
Their commander was gone and the ground for a mile and a half square was literally 
covered with their dead and wounded. Even in advance of where the "raw" troops had 
broken "unaccountably and discreditably," havoc had been made in their ranks. One 
entire brigade (Garland's) was practically annihilated and the identity of its regimental 
organizations lost. Another brigade, (Rains') with a loss of one-seventh of its ranks, 
in turning the left flank of the "raw" division, satisfied to go no farther. Two regiments 
(6th Alabama Rodes' brigade and 4th North Carolina, G. B. Anderson's brigade) which 
led the front 'attack on the "rawest" troops of the Army of the Potomac, sustaming the 
largest numerical loss of all the Confederate regiments during the entire period of the 
Civil War save one (•26th North Carolina) ; the first with an aggregate loss of 373, out 
of about 682 engaged ; 91 killed, 277 wounded and 5 missing ; the other with an aggregate 
loss of 369, out of 678 engaged; 77 killed, 286 wounded and 6 missing; 46 of the dead 
lying within an area of an acre, in front of Casey's intrenchments, defended only by the 
"rawest" troops of the army. During the afternoon of June 2, the writer counted 13 
Confederate dead within an area of ten feet square on the western border of the abatis 
in rear of Wessells' camp, immediately south of the Williamsburg road. Such tremendous 
losses after the flush of victory had subsided, had a tendency to depress and dispirit the 
Confederate troops. The day before some of the commands had shown an utter defiance 
of danger. Many of the fainthearted became bold and rash when they saw the routed 
Federals fleeing, and ried with their most courageous comrades in pushing forward. The 
changed condition obtained not only in the ranks but to a limited degree it affected 
the officers of high rank in command, especially those who had participated m the battle 
of Saturday. Gen. G. W. Smith, who by reason of seniority of rank, succeeded Gen. 
Johnston in command of the Confederate army, says in his book ("Battle of Seven Pines," 
p. 129), that Longstreet, who commanded the right wing, showed no disposition to renew 
the attack and had to receive positive orders before doing so. There is little doubt in the 
mind of the writer that had night been two hours later in coming the army on the right 
bank of the Chickahominy would have been disastrously defeated, notwithstanding the 
heroic action of Sumner's troops. Men in the first flush of victory become imbued with 
a spirit of invincibility, while sudden and unexpected defeat, that becomes a rout, pro- 
duces a radically different morale among the best disciplined and most courageous troops. 
According to the testimony of Gen. Heintzelman the esprit de corps of most of his com- 
mand was at so low an ebb, that gallant Phil. Kearny begged him to let the enemy go 
in peace. No one can read the official reports of Gens. Heintzelman, Kearny and Peck 
without seeing that Casey's division was not the only one' routed on Saturday afternoon. 
Why, then, did the commanding-general of the left wing of the army continue criticizing 
the weakest and rawest division in his command? 

"When I got to the front the most of Casey's division had dispersed !" "The rout of 
Gen. Casey's men had a most dispiriting effect on the troops as they came up ! Gen. 
Casey's division is entirely demoralized." "Gen. Casey's division cannot be relied upon tor 
any purpose whatever!" "The stragglers of Gen. Casey's division had a most dispiriting 
eflFect!" etc. 

This constant iteration of the shortcomings of Casey's division would indicate that 
Gen. Heintzelman was not in a judicial state of mind. His own report and his testimony 
before the congressional committee make it clear that the full responsibility of holding the 
position in advance of Seven Pines devolved upon him. On May 29 he sent a note to Gen. 



198 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Keyes that he was moving a brigade of Kearny's division to a position where in case of an 
attack it could reenforce Keyes in half an hour. On the afternoon of May 30 Gen. Keyes 
informed him of the dangerous condition in which Casey's troops were placed, indicating 
great apprehension of disaster in case of an attack and intimating that he regarded 
Casey's division as a picket guard for the army. With such expressions from his chief 
subordinate officer, intimating that an attack was impending and that the position of the 
advanced line was precarious, his delay in sending forward reenforcements places the culpa- 
bility for the rout of Casey's division on him beyond question. In an endeavor, apparently, 
to distract attention from his own dereliction he allowed vituperation to sway him against 
the "raw" troops of his command. He seems to have let his mind run riot in accusation 
against the division that first gave way. He could not stop at reviling the living but 
resorted to a wanton characterization of the men who did not fall back, but resisted to 
the death a half mile in advance of where the troops of no other division of the Federal 
army dared go on the afternoon of May 31, or at any time during June 1. In his official 
report, dated June 7, he says : 

"An officer informed me that after we had driven the enemy beyond our first intrench- 
ments he visited Gen. Casey's camp, and found more men bayoneted and shot within their 
shelter tents than outside of them." 

The conte.xt, both preceding and succeeding this sentence, makes it an asper- 
sion of the dead. It unquestionably implies that they had played the part of 
poltroons and lay cowering in their tents, making no resistance while the enemy bayoneted 
and shot them at will. Passing by the false claim that the enemy were driven beyond the 
intrenchments the report of the first commanding officer to reach the fortifications in front 
of Casey's camp, Lieut.-Col. H. L. Potter, Second Excelsior Regiment (71st New York), 
has already told the story. However, one sentence is worth reproducing: 

"Scattered over the fields in tents, in the houses, and under sheds were large numbers 
of wounded men, both of the rebel army and our own, in the most distressing condition, 
many having been since Saturday, May 31, without any food or attention." 

Col. S. H. Starr (comdg. Third Brigade, Hooker's division) reported the following 
condition in front of Casey's camp : 

"The 5th and 6th Regiments have been for four days and nights * * * holding the 
most advanced position on this flank of the army, * * * but among the greatest of their 
sufferings may be ranked the intolerable stench to which they have been and are exposed, 
arising from the unburied dead bodies of men and horses that were and are thickly scattered 
over the ground for hundreds of acres around. I have caused to be buried all my men's 
strength and time enabled them to bury, but I suffer many to lie unburied not many hundred 
yards distant." 

This was dated June 4, four days after the battle had occurred on this part of the 
field. Col. Starr was in command of Patterson's brigade of Hooker's division. Two 
regiments of this brigade (5th and 6th New Jersey) were then in the most advanced 
troops. From noon May 31, until June 2, no Federal troops were near this position except 
the "raw" troops of Casey's division. "The unburied dead bodies of men * * * that 
were and are thickly scattered over the ground for hundreds of acres around," corroborates 
with emphasis the official reports of the Confederate commanders. Lieut. Col. Potter, 
who modestly made no claim of driving "the enemy beyond our first intrenchments," 
refutes the story of the officer who informed Gen. Heintzelman that "we had driven the 
enemy beyond our first intrenchments," and then visited Gen. Casey's camp and found 
more men bayoneted and shot within their shelter tents than outside of them. 

There is an adage that "Where there is much smoke there must be some fire," and 
where so much has been said to the discredit of Casey's division there must have been 
some basis for it ; and there was. There is another adage to the effect that "Appearances 
are at times deceptive," and certainly the appearances to the rear of Casey's division as 
soon as the attack had assumed a serious aspect did have the appearance of a rout. But 
what were the conditions surrounding Casey's division at this time? The report of the Joint 
Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War tells it in part, chiefly gathered 
from the sworn testimony of Gen. Casey, as follows : 

"When the campaign of the Peninsula commenced, his division consisted principally 



AT SEVEN PINES. 199 

of raw and inexperienced troops. They had suffered greatly from the labors and exposures 
incident upon the siege of Yorktown and the advance of the troops up the Peninsula. Some 
of them had been for weeks without shelter, being compelled to leave their camp equipage 
behind when ordered on the pursuit of the enemy after the evacuation of Yorktown. That 
division took the lead across the Chickahominy, taking up a position at Seven Pines, where 
it established itself by throwing up intrenchments and cutting abatis." 

This is only part of the story. Nothing is said about the heavy details building roads, 
bridges, etc.; of the rifle-pits, breastworks and abatis constructed near Savage Station, 
behind which the routed left wing of the army took refuge on the evening of May 31 ; no 
reference is made to the letter to Gen. Casey, from the headquarters of the Army of the 
Potomac, under date of May 23, 1862, desiring "An explanation in detail of the extra- 
ordinary falling off in the effective strength of Casey's division since March 30, 1862." The 
daily returns had shown an extraordinary falling off, but these men had not gone to their 
homes, they had not even been sent to the rear to hospitals, but they had continued to keep 
up with their regiments as long as they had strength to do so, and when not able to con- 
tinue the march thev lav down by the wayside, singly and in groups, frequently a friendly 
comrade tarrying to minister to their needs. Drinking surface water, lying on the damp 
ground, with no covering or shelter, and insufficient nourishment had produced such an 
epidemic of disease that the surgeons in charge were completely overwhelmed with work. 
During the first year of the war every regiment had its quota of men, who having the 
least ailment, would rush to the doctor. The arduous fatigue duty devolving on Casey's 
troops in addition to picket and camp guard duty, reconnoissances, etc., gave an additional 
incentive for this class to get excused from working in the swamps, slashing timber and 
digging rifle-pits. The surgeon's mandate was supreme and could not be annuled by higher 
authority except in extreme emergencies. That there were a great many of this class of 
men, those who asked exemption from duty on the shghtest cause, in every regiment of 
Casey's division, will hardly be disputed. But, on the other hand, at this time there was a 
greater corresponding number who were not fit for duty and were not excused, some 
through the lack of acumen, or perhaps indifference, on the part of the surgeon ; others who 
would suffer and perform all the duties for which they were detailed rather than appear 
to belong to the shirkers. But outside of these the camps were full of sick men in all the 
various stages of disease, in every regiment there being virulent cases of malarial and 
typhus fevers, the most prevalent ailment being of a dysenteric nature. The sickness was 
not confined to the enlisted men, however; the officers, both regimental and company, seemed 
to be affected even more than the men, and but few of Casey's regiments had but more than 
one field officer, and in some companies all the officers were either absent or ill. Palmer's 
brigade probably suffered the most, possibly due to its closer proximity to White Oak 
Swamp. Gen. Palmer in his report says : "The sick and reputed sick numbered some hun- 
dreds; in some companies there were no commissioned officers, in the most of them not 
more than one." However, this description would probably be a fair statement of most of 
the regiments of the division. As before stated, the daily returns indicated such a falling 
oflF of the effective men that a week previously there came a request from the headquarters 
of the army for an explanation of this unprecedented falling off of the effective men for 
duty. From the time Casey's division landed on the Peninsula it had more or less difficulty 
in getting commissary suoplies. After crossing the Chickahominy this difficulty became 
intensified, as all supplies had to be transported by wagons from White House Landing 
on the Pamunkey river, and the roads were not in the best condition. Probably the very 
rawness of the troops of the division was a reason why it should be served last, especially 
as it had been assigned to do most of the menial work of the army, it being the rule even 
to this day that those who do the most drudgery, shall have the least and wait until their 
betters are served. Be that as it may, however, a bountiful quantity of commissary sup- 
plies, including several barrels of whiskey, arrived at Casey's camps on Saturday forenoon. 
May 31, requiring a vast stream of wagons to transport them, and these were all parked in 
and about the camps in front, the horses and drivers enjoying their midday meal prepara- 
tory to the return trip. The hea^T firing of the previous two days at Casey's advanced 
position had made that an attractive point for the troops in the rear, who wished to know 



200 CASEY'S DIVISION 

what was going on in the front; added to this, the troops of the other divisions of the army 
had friends in Casey's division, and it, holding the advance, gave a double incentive for 
visiting their friends. When the visitors arrived many of them found their friends in front 
slashing timber or on the picket line. Discipline in those days was more lax in all divisions 
than later, and there was little difficulty in getting to and from the picket line. Gen. Pal- 
frey, in his critical paper before referred to, says : 

"It is within my personal knowledge that it was stated (Somebody told him so. — Ed.) 
at the time on the ground, that is within the days immediately succeeding the action, that 
discipline was slack in Caseys' division ; and that when the pickets were driven in, as 
many as a thousand of them were straying to the front without arms and equipments, 
prospecting and amusing themselves generally, and that their rush back to camp, when the 
first shots were fired, had a very confusing and demoralizing effect." 

What percentage of the men straying in front belonged to Casey's division, of course, 
is unknown, but the probabilities are that more than 50 per cent, belonged to other divisions, 
who had come forward to get a glimpse of the enemy, and to have, what was then consid- 
ered an honor, the credit of having been within five miles of Richmond. There were 
several hundreds of men of Casey's division a half mile in advance of the camps slashing 
timber. It being the noon hour, many had hastily eaten their scant provender and hurried 
out to the picket line, less than a fourth of a mile in their front, and were observing the 
enemy when the signal guns were fired; others were resting in such elevated spots as they 
could find in the vicinity of where they were working. Another thing that should be con- 
sidered, the exceptional torrentional rainstorm of the afternoon and night before, beginning 
when Casey's division was still standing in line of battle in advance of the rifle-pits and 
redoubt to repel the expected attack of the enemy. This rain had not only flooded the 
level grounds, filling the woods with water, making the cultivated grounds one vast morass 
or mire, but had only slightly affected the Williamsburg road to the rear, as it had a ditch 
on either side that kept it pretty generally dry. In going to the rear from Casey's or 
Couch's camps everything converged to this road. The first firing of the pickets, which 
began within two or three minutes after Bondurant's battery had fired the three signal 
guns, was not at all startling at first because it was qyite limited in extent and it was some 
little time before the Confederate skirmishers returned the fire. The first light firing of 
the pickets was due to the fact that Garland's brigade, which led the attack, was massed 
so its line of battle did not reach at first to exceed a fourth of a mile north of the Wil- 
liamsburg road, and that it was fully twenty minutes, or perhaps more, in advance of 
Rodes' brigade, which covered the advance south of the Williamsburg road. The picket 
firing opposing Garland's advance forced his regiments, then moving by the right flank, 
to deploy, the skirmishers intermingling with the regiments as they advanced. Up to this 
time the firing had been no heavier than when the pickets were previously attacked, although 
four brigades of Hill's division were advancing on Casey's raw division, within less than 
a mile from his frail intrenchments. Notwithstanding this meager firing. Gen. Casey had 
been advised by the pickets that the enemy were massing in his front and he had taken 
the precaution to order his men under arms and was already placing them in position 
when the firing became more formidable. This occurred immediately after Garland's 
regiments had deployed, they returning the fire of the pickets. This fire being returned 
by the 103d Penna., was the first announcement to the troops in camp and in the rear that 
the attack of the enemy was more formidable than the former ones. Not until then did 
the surgeons in camp become apprehensive of danger, and the sick were given orders to 
get to the rear at once. The commissary wagons were transformed into ambulances, those 
able to walk were told to move to the rear, and soon the road was full of wagons and 
men. Many of the sick, the ambulances having been exhausted, had to be helped to the 
rear, some on stretchers and others by comrades holding them by the arm ; to this stream 
were added the full complement of skulkers, and non-combatant camp followers, etc. 
The visitors from other camps tarried to see the fun, but when the enemy made his appear- 
ance in great force they joined the procession to the rear, now anxious to get with their 
respective commands. Wounded men from the picket line and from the regiment sent to 
its support, in some cases assisted by comrades who were not wounded, helped to swell 



AT SEVEN PINES. 201 

the caravan to the rear; later, when the troops supporting Spratt's battery became engaged, 
the quota of wounded men increased and when this line was finally broken, some of the 
regiments were routed, and this caused a constant flow to the rear. The men who had 
been routed in the woods in the front by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and also 
later in the abatis when charging at close quarters, when they found they were largely out- 
numbered, had become more or less demoralized and panic-stricken, and instinctively cried 
out, "My regiment is all cut to pieces," as they passed to the rear. While to the observer 
in the rear the appearances indicated that Casey's division was routed. Gen. Casey and 
his subordinate brigade commanders were along the lines in front encouraging the men 
who were gallantly defending the positiorL None of the calumniators of this division wit- 
nessed the white-haired old general as he sat on his iron-gray horse back of Spratt's 
battery directing the movements of the respective troops, nor saw the men who stood by 
their guns for the first three hours of the battle; had they done so, their accounts would 
have been different ; for not until after they were completely overwhelmed and threatened 
on both flanks at close quarters, and had been broken into such fragments that brigade and 
regimental identities had been completely lost, did the penny-a-liners see the men who did 
the most courageous fighting in the battle on May 31. Had these scribblers first seen Gens. 
Kearny and Peck retiring by a wood path with a disorganized mass, more than a mile 
to the rear of where they had met the enemy two or three hours before, would they 
repeatedly have called them fugitives fleeing from the enemy, and ignored their previous 
services? But Casey's division had still more charged to it than was its due. The same 
conditions prevalent among Casey's men obtained, to a less degree, perhaps, among Couch's 
men. But each regiment had a large quota of sick and those who feigned illness, and when 
the enemy's shot and shell began to fly back of Couch's line of battle these joined the 
procession to the rear and all were designated as "fugitives from Casey's division retreating." 
Nowhere do you hear of any fugitives from any other division than Casey's. Like a bad 
boy at school, it had every delinquency charged to it, and the imaginative correspondent 
had a splendid opportunity to corroborate in his dispatches and letters all that the com- 
manding general had said in derogation of the rawest and weakest division of the army. 
Why has the official report of Gen. Casey, which was fully substantiated by all his 
subordinate brigade commanders, and to a degree by his corps commander, been so gen- 
erally ignored, and full credence given to the statements of Gens. McClellan and Heintzel- 
man? Simply because he has been accorded the same treatment that the criminal receives 
when testifying in his own behalf; the very charge against him discrediting his testimony. 
But there is evidence in abundance that can not be questioned corroborating every claim 
made by Gen. Casey as to the courage of his troops; evidence from eye-witnesses who 
knew whereof they testified. Is it not strange that in no official reports of the Confederate 
generals who assaulted Gen. Casey's division, is there a taint of animadversion against 
the action of the Yankees comprising the division first assaulted? Even the newspaper 
writers in the Confederate journals, in describing the battle of Fair Oaks, paid much more 
attention to the "obstinate and prolonged resistance" than they did to the "flying Yankees." 
The official reports of the officers who led the troops and who routed the division can tell 
the story without embellishment. In all the animadversions among the officers on the Con- 
federate side as to who was remiss among the Confederate commanders, there was one 
general in no wise implicated and that was the general who commanded the 
division. that made the assault on Casey's troops, Maj.-Gen. Daniel H. Hill. He has been 
preeminently accorded the palm as the hero of the battle. In the concluding paragraph of 
his official report he says : 

"Appended is a list of the killed and wounded. From this it appears that of the less 
than 9,000 taken into action nearly 3,000 were struck down. The loss was principally in the 
three brigades which made the front attack. Rain's brigade, which executed the flank 
movement, suffered but little in comparison. The gallant charge of my division demoralized 
the Yankees, and our reenf or cements were not hotly engaged; the succor brought to Casey 
not fighting so well as his own men. This accounts for the fact that more than half of 
the entire loss in the two days' fight fell upon my division." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, 
p. 946.) 



202 CASEY'S DIVISION 

In an indorsement to Gen. Rodes' report, Gen. Hill says : 

"/ had a full view of the field from my position, and could see no movement toward 
ez'acuating the works till Gen. Rains opened fire on the Hank and rear. This brigade 
(Rains') unfortunately, did little more. Had he pressed vigorously on the right, 500 
casualties would have been saved in Rodes' brigade." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 976.) 

Gen. Hill paid the following compliment to Casey's division at Richmond, Va., Oct. 22, 
1885, in an address at the reunion of the Virginia Division, Army of Northern Virginia 
Association (Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. 13, p. 266) : "It was said 
for a time that Casey was surprised and that his division was defeated by a sudden rush 
of mine. His own report and the reports of all his officers show that there was nothing 
of the kind. He had been waiting for us for hours with his men and guns in position. 
The sudden rush began at 1 o'clock and Casey^s works were captured at 3 o'clock. It is 
a_ rnisnomer to call a deadly struggle for two hours a sudden rush. It is unjust to my 
division, as well as that opposing me, to say that Casey's men fought badly. They fought 
better than the reinforcements sent to help them. Fowler Hamilton, a jolly dragoon officer, 
was asked in the Mexican war, by some of the newly arrived troops, 'Are the Mexicans 
brave?' They are brave enough for me,' replied he. Casey's men were brave enough for 
me, and he himself was a veteran of approved courage and conduct. He seems to have 
been one of the very last to abandon his earthworks." 

Gen. Garland, whose brigade led the advance, and which was literally "cut to pieces" 
before Casey's line was reached, says in his official report : 

"My line of skirmishers had advanced only a few hundred yards when they encoun- 
tered that of the enemy. * * * Still all pushed forward with alacrity — so fast, indeed, 
that when the skirmishers became heavily engaged the regiments pressed upon their heels 
and the fire became hot along our whole front before emerging from the woods. The 
regiments were broueht into line of battle to support the skirmishers, who, without retiring 
behind them to reform, became in many places intermingled in their ranks, and so continued 
throughout the day. We drove the enemy before us out of the woods back into the abatis, 
where they had several regiments drawn up behind a fence to support them. I am of 
opinion that the line of skirmishers upon our right, on the opposite side of the road, did 
not advance so raoidly as our own, for Maj. W. S. Wilson, of the 2d Miss. Battalion, 
reports that the right of our advancing line was subjected to a fire from the front and 
flank. We had now reached the edge of the wood, where the abatis impeded our further 
advance, and the troops were under heavy fire. I now learned that Col. McRae * ♦ * 
had been compelled to retire * * *. A portion of his regiment I found temporarily con- 
fused * * * and I assisted * * * to rally them. I also assisted Col. Christie 
* * * to reform * * * g. portion of his regiment * * *. About the same time, 
Maj. Maury having fallen, I assisted in keeping the 24th Virginia to its place, some embar- 
rassment and delay having been produced by his fall. * * * Hurrying forward * * * 
to the abatis I found that as the regiments emerged from the woods * * * were 
suffering terribly from the enemy's fire. The regimental commanders, who had received 
my orders to move by the left flank, were unable to effect the movement in good order 
under the galling fire. The alternative was adopted to push the regiments forward through 
the abatis against the enemy, which was done, the 2d Florida on the left and in advance; 
the 38th Virginia, now next on its right, only a little behind. * * * \ trusted to Col. 
Anderson's intuition as an accomplished soldier to perceive that we were hotly engaged, 
and, as I anticipated, he arrived upon the field just at the proper time. Meanwhile my 
regiments had advanced more or less into the abatis, the 2d Florida and 38th Virginia up to 
the fence, and driving away the gunners and killing the horses from a section of artillery 
near the road. We were losing heavily, especially in field and company officers. Within 
the space of a few minutes the 24th Virginia had lost its only field officer, wounded (Maj. 
Maury) ; the 23d North Carolina all its field officers, wounded or disabled, and 8 out of 10 
company commanders and 17 out of 29 officers killed or wounded; the 2d Florida 2 field 
officers and 10 out of 11 company commanders, killed or wounded; the 38th Virginia its 
colonel temporarily disabled, but who again took the field. The entire brigade of five regi- 
ments and a battalion was in front of the fight, receiving the first shock of the enemy's 
force with only six field officers, two regiments without any, two more with one apiece. 
Add to this the list of casualties among company officers shown in the returns, and it is not 
surprising that regimental lines were not accurately preserved; yet nothing occurred to the 
disparagement of the general reputation of the troops. * * * The supporting brigade 
advancing at this opportune moment, and the passage of lines being a feat in tactics which 
had never been practiced by any of us, large fragments of those regiments who were left 
without field or company officers were joined in and continued forward with that brigade. 
The regiments with field officers remaining (the 2d Florida and 38th Virginia especially) 
preserved a more distinct organization. I assisted Maj. Wilson to collect some of the 
Mississippi Battalion, and sent them to the left of the 28th Georgia. Passing to the right, 
where Lieut.-Col. (R. D.) Johnston, before being wounded, had attached some of his 



AT SEVEN PINES. 203 



companies to the 4th North Carolina, I kept on the right with the mixed command up to 
the earthworks and rifle-pits, placing them to hold the rifle-pits and use them in reverse. 
Arriving there, my horse, which had been shot at an early hour, became now so disabled 
that I was compelled to abandon him, accepting the use of Capt. Manning's until required 
by him to go after ordnance. Finding Maj.-Gen. Hill * * * near me, I reported to 
him, and rendered assistance for a time in conducting the reenforcements now arriving to 
their positions and in rallying regiments or parts of regiments as wavered _any\vhere on 
our part of the lines. My own command, now upon the field, was intermingled, in the 
manner already stated, to a large extent with Col. Anderson's brigade. The 2d Florida 
and 38th Virginia, having continued in the fight until a late hour, were sent back under 
orders to supply their exhausted ammunition, about the same time with the 49th Virginia. 
* * * Riding back at the request of Gen. Hill, to communicate with Gen. Wilcox, whose 
brigade was coming up, I found that Col. Smith, 49th Virginia, had been directed by Gea 
Longstreet to join these regiments with his own and carry them back to the front. * 
The 2d Florida captured the colors of the 8th New York C evidently Capt. Fitch s battery- 
Ed ) and 45 or 50 prisoners, with several horses, was leading the advance, and, with other 
troops, clearing men and horses from the section of artillery planted near the road, which 
the enemy never afterwards regained. The regiment kept in the fight up to the enemy s 
camp on the left. * * * The 38th Virginia captured the marker's flag of the 104th 
Penna and 9 prisoners, including one captain, and kept well up in the fight with or near 
the 2d Florida retiring under orders as above stated. The casualties of these two regi- 
ments were heavy, as shown by the reports; those of the 2d Florida especially so being 
about 45 per cent, of their force engaged, and the 38th Virginia not much less Late in 
the afternoon I succeeded in separating and reorganizing my command, and held it under 
orders in reserve. Sleeping upon the field of battle, this brigade, along with Col. Ander- 
son's was held in reserve on Sunday, the 1st instant, and was not engaged, there being no 
need' for its services. * * * Lieut.-Col. Taylor and Maj. Wilson,_of the 2d Mississippi 
Battalion did their whole duty throughout the day, and succeeded in reforming parts of 
their line' of skirmishers into bodies and carrying them into the fight. I regret that circum- 
stances did not afford their fine battalion the best opportumty for separate action on that 
day." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 961-964.) 

The official records of the War Department contain the report of only one regimental 
commander of Garland's brigade, that of Col. Daniel H. Christie, of the 23d North Carolina. 
He says : 

"The regiment was formed in line of battle, occupying the center of the brigade,^ at 
about 1 -30 P. M., and moved at the command by right of battalions to the front, endeavoring 
to preserve regimental distance on our right for the 38th Virginia. * * * I soon foiind 
that my command and the 24th Virginia were moving on converging instead of parallel 
lines. I notified Maj. Maury immediately, but a heavy firing in front, indicating the skir- 
mishers would soon be overpowered, I was obliged to bring my command rapidly into Une 
of battle before he had time to gain distance for me. * * * We were now suffering 
from a heavy skirmishers' fire (the fire of the 103d Penna.— Ed.), but pressed on through 
swamp and thicket, officers and men exerting themselves to the utmost to overcome the 
obstacles in their line of march and obeying strictly the order to reserve their fire. As we 
neared the edge of the abatis a terrific fire from the opposite side opened on us, which we 
returned with effect. The fight here for some minutes was stubborn in the extreme, ihe 
felled timber was an almost insuperable obstacle to a successful charge against a firm_ line, 
and I waited the auspicious moment when they should waver. At this juncture a regiment 
on my right was ordered to fall back and reform. The order reaching the ears of my 
company commanders on the right wing, they mistook it for mine, and commenced putting 
it into execution. That moment I felt to be pregnant with the most disastrous conse- 
quences to my command, but by the quick, intelligent cooperation of Lieut -Col. Johnston 
the movement was stopped, and we again pressed forward, drove the enemy from his strong 
position and were entering the abatis when Gen. Garland rode up and ordered me to move 
by the left flank. In the execution of this order the three right companies became detached, 
but were gallantly led by Lieut.-Col. Johnston across the Williamsburg road, and cooper- 
ating with the 4th North Carolina, charged in the direction of the battery in the redoubt, 
officers and men acting nobly, but suffering terribly. Having passed the opening and the 
abatis with what was left of my command, with a part of the 24th Virginia I again pressed 
forward, the enemy fighting but giving way. The swampy earth and thick undergrowth 
continued to check rapid movement. The 2d Florida, on my left, was hard pressed. When 
the 49th Virginia came up cheering upon our right the enemy began again to give way and 
our line went forward. About this time my horse was shot, and in falling with him 1 was 
so much injured as to be incompetent for further service. All the field officers and two- 
thirds of the company officers were now hors de combat, but several oflScers and many of the 
men joined other commands and fought on until mght closed the engagement. (U. K.. 
Ser. I. Vol. VI, part I, pp. 967-968.) 



204 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Col. Christie's report is fully corroborated in the history of the 23d North Carolina 
Regiment in "North Carolina Regiments"; the writers, two members of the regiment, say 
of the battle of Seven Pines: 

"Few attacks in war were ever made under circumstances more unfavorable to the 
assaulting force. A swamp, in some places waist deep in water and thick with undergrowth 
and tangled vine, had to be crossed, and a skillfully made abatis confronted and struggled 
through before the heavily manned hostile works beyond could be reached. Through them 
all swept the regiment in line, with its comrade commands, under a fire of musketry and 
artillery as hot as mortal men ever breasted with success. Many a gallant fellow was 
stricken down dead or wounded. Some, rendered helpless by wounds not necessarily fatal, 
sank and were drowned in the deep waters of the swamp. * * * But in our front the 
victory was complete. After two hours, ending in the brilliant charge described above, 
Casey's works were carried and his routed line driven back on Couch's. Then the division, 
reenforced by only one, R. H. Anderson's, smashed Couch, though reenforced by Kearny, 
and drove all back on their third line two miles in rear of the first line. * * * Darkness 
put an end to the battle. But a heavy blood equivalent was paid for the victory. * * ♦ 
None of the field officers escaped injury. Col, Christie was wounded. Lieut.-Col. R. D. 
Johnston was wounded in the arm, face, and neck, had his horse killed under him and was 
shot down within fifty feet of the hostile works. Capt. C. C. Blacknall * * * was 
grazed by seven balls and received a painful bruise near the spine from a fragment of 
shell. * * * Capt. Wm. Johnson * * * Lieut. E. A. McDonald * * * were also 
wounded, Lieuts. J. D. Knott and A. M. Luria * * * were killed * * *. Maj. E. J. 
Christian was mortally wounded, dying a few days later. * * * He had received two 
wounds, either of which would have justifiedhis retirement from the field. But he pluckily 
went forward at the head of his men till stricken down with the third and mortal wound." 
(North Carolina Regiments, Vol. II, pp. 204-206.) 

Col. George B. Anderson, of the 4th North Carolina Regiment, who commanded 
Feather ston's brigade, of Gen. Hill's division, the supporting brigade to Gen. Garland, says: 

"The brigade was put in motion * * * between 1 and 1:30 P. M., so as to be 
about one-quarter of a mile in rear of Garland's brigade. After moving a short distance, 
not more than half a mile, word was sent me from Gen. Garland that he was in great need 
of reenforcements. Tlie step of the troops was quickened and they moved on rapidly, the 
whole advance being over ground exceedingly boggy and much of it covered with a very 
thick growth of trees. The 4th North Carolina, being on the right and somewhat in 
advance, came first into action, emerging from the woods half a mile or more in front of 
the enemy's redoubt and breastworks, upon ground which, up to within 200 or 300 yards 
of the redoubt, was obstructed by the felling of trees. The other regiments, in the order 
of their positions in line — 49th Virginia, 28th Georgia, and 27th Georgia — came up success- 
ively into action, but the 28th Georgia by mistake, resulting probably from the density of 
the woods through which it had marched, came up on the right of the 49th Virginia and 
remained thus during the action. Having started the three regiments on the right fairly 
into action, I found myself in the woods on the left of the clearing with the 27th Georgia, 
and, from the force of circumstances as the day advanced, remained on this flank during 
most of the action. This regiment, having formed line in the woods, engaged the enemy 
there and charged him over a very difficult piece of obstructed ground; but finding itself 
in the face of a very greatly superior force and in too advanced a position — one, in fact, 
which endangered its being completely flanked — it was withdrawn a short distance, its left 
flank thrown back, and I went into the clearing to endeavor to procure reenforcements 
before again advancing. Col. Jenkins' regiment of South Carolina Sharpshooters and the 
6th South Carolina Volunteers were sent with me, and as soon as they could be formed 
in line and the firing stopped sufficiently to make the signal agreed upon (a shout from 
the 27th Georgia) heard, the three regiments again charged in the best style over the same 
piece of obstructed ground above alluded to, through the woods beyond, and completely 
over a large camp of the enemy, taking a considerable number of prisoners and routing 
him completely. The Georgia regiment, having been in action much longer than the South 
Carolina, and being somewhat scattered and very much fatigued, was now halted and 
reformed in line. The South Carolina regiments advanced some distance farther, and 
after a short time became engaged with the enemy. * * * I then left it and went to 
look after the rest of the brigade. * * * In passing to the right I found the 4th North 
Carolina under fire, but completely exhausted and very badly cut to pieces. The 49th Vir- 
ginia and 28th Georgia had retired. * * * Being completely exhausted myself, and the 
regiments of the brigade being exhausted and cut up and to some extent scattered, and 
the ground being held by fresher troops, I proceeded as the evening closed in to collect 
them together at a point in the rear portion of the clearing to the left of the road. * * ♦ 
Maj. Bryan Grimes * * * led his regiment in the thickest of the fight. His horse was 
shot under him not more than 100 yards directly in front of the enemy's redoubt. After 
three color-bearers of his regiment had been killed he bore in his own hands and brought 



AT SEVEN PINES. 205 

out of action its tattered but honored flag. * * * j close my necessarily imperfect 
report with a statement, whose dry figures may be truly said to speak with touching elo- 
quence, of what was done and what was suffered by the brave men of this brigade on 
Saturday, May 31. Carried into action, 1.865; killed, 149; wounded, 680; missine 37- 
grand aggregate, 866." (0. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 951-953.) 

From the report of Lieut.-Col. Charles T. Zachry, 27th Georgia, Infantry of Feather- 
ston's brigade: 

. "About 2 P. M. we emerged from the woods through which we had advanced 
rapidly and with great fatigue to the men, in the open field just in rear of the 4th North 
Carolina State Troops and the 49th Virginia Regiment, who were both engaging the enemy. 
We were ordered to the left into the woods, and our line reached along an abatis of the 
enemy 75 or 100 yards in width. One captain (O. A. Lee, Company I) and several men 
had been killed before we arrived at this position. The enemy had concealed himself on 
the other edge of the abatis, and when we had arrived within this easy range, opened a 
tremendous fire of musketry--, with some grape and shell. We replied with greater effect 
upon the enerny, as shown by their dead and wounded, for a brief period, and then charged 
over the abatis, the enemy's sense of danger on seeing our bayonets intrepidly advancing 
allowing him to take but little advantage of the exposure of our men in crossing such a 
place. Advancing beyond where the enemy had been and discovering he had flanked us, 
we fell back across the abatis. Scarcely was our line well in its position before the enemyi 
with three fiendish yells, opened from the same place on us a terrific fire, which we returned 
till reenforced by Col. _ Jenkins' South Carolina regiment; then charged the abatis again. 
The enemy fled so rapidly we saw him no more until we had passed three of his camps! 
In the first charge, or while falling back after it, the gallant Capt. Bacon fell mortally 
wounded. * * * Between the first and second charges Col. Smith was severely wounded 
* * *." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 953-954.) 

From report of Capt. John N. Wilcox, comdg. 28th Georgia Infantry: 
"The force of the regiment upon entering the field of action consisted of 370 officers 
and men. The regiment entered the field of action in the position assigned it with the 
brigade under a heavy fire of the enemy's guns and remained on the field between three 
and four hours, constantly engaged under the enemy's galling fire. * * * Loss in killed 
and wounded, 121 officers and men." (O. R., Ser. I. Vol. XL, part I, p. 955.) 

From report of Maj. Bryan Grimes, comdg. 4th North Carolina Infantry: 
"After marching to the field agreeably to orders, when near the Williamsburg road 
the enemy commenced an enfilading fire from a battery stationed in the road, concealed 
V ^5^°° • *^^" ^^^^ ™y regiment to the left and brought it into line of battle, and 
ordered it to lie down until the other regiments of the brigade moved up. Just as the next 
regiment reached us a courier arrived from the front calling for reenforcements, and you 
ordered me forward. The woods were very thick and water deep in ponds from recent 
rains, in places waist deep. The enemy, during our advance through the woods, playing 
upon us with canister and shell, it was impossible to keep an accurate alignment; halted 
at the edge of the woods, rectified the alignment as near as possible before uncovering my 
men, and then_ ordered them to advance, which was through a thick and entangled abatis, 
formed by felling the trees in opposite directions, which was difficult and tedious to march 
through. At this time I first saw the redoubt of the enemy about half a mile in front, and 
somewhat to the right, of my center, which caused me to right oblique my command. ' The 
enemy also had a section of battery (two pieces) which was dealing destruction to my left 
wing, while my center and right wings were being mowed down by grape and canister from 
^e redoubt ; but the men steadily advanced in admirable order. The enemy fled from the 
field pieces on my left and we then concentrated our whole attention to the redoubt. 
Between this entangled brush-wood and the redoubt was a plowed field, rendered very 
miry by the late rains, in which the men would mire ankle deep at every step; through this 
we continued our way. Other regiments at this time were emerging from the thicket both 
on my right and left, when I gave the order to charge on the redoubt, which was done by 
my men in gallant style. When within about 100 yards of the redoubt my horse was killed, 
catching me under him in his fall. Assistance came and I was extricated uninjured, wheri 
we rushed on. When within 30 or 40 yards of the redoubt I saw that we were 200 yards 
in advance of any other regiment and thought best to fall back to a ditch midway between 
the redoubt and entangled woods, which I ordered, and the regiment retired in good order ; 
but the color-bearer misunderstanding the order, fell back beyond the ditch to this entangled 
brush. Those who had taken cover in the ditch then followed the colors, which were then 
halted, and all ordered to lie down, being still within 250 yards of the redoubt. About this 
time our battery arrived and commenced playing upon the enemy. As an evidence of the 
severity of the fire of the enemy while in front of the battery 46 of my men were found 
killed, within an area of one acre. After allowing my men time to recover from their 
fatigue, just then I saw my third color-bearer shot down. Capt. Simonton and myself 



206 CASEY'S DIVISION 

rushed up to raise the colors. Capt. Simonton, reaching them first, placed them in my 
hands, raising them aloft, calling upon my men to rally around their standard. It was done 
with alacrity, and, together with several other regiments, we reached the redoubt, the 
enemy fleeing. About 300 yards distant to the left I saw two regiments of the enemy drawn 
up in line of battle, protected and partially concealed by the woods. I faced my men to the 
left and double-quicked them through an open field to reach a cover of the same woods, 
but before reaching it I saw breastworks to my right thrown up, which the enemy were 
leaving, and ordered my men to move by the right flank and get behind their breastworks, 
firing upon them during the while, which was continued until I saw a regiment of ours 
marching to the left to attack them. I ordered them to cease firing for fear of shooting 
our friends. In a short time we were ordered forward to support a regiment in front and 
to our right, which was done. While at this spot, of my four officers who had followed the 
flag through the day two were shot — Capt. Simonton, killed instantly, and Capt. Wood, 
very seriously wounded. From here we were ordered to fall back from the breastworks, 
ajid in a short time it became dark, and orders arrived for me to retire to the road. Just 
before doing so I ordered them to count the number then present, which was 54 * * *. 
It is impossible for me to obtain the names of those who acted with more than common 
gallantry in the first and hottest part of the engagement, as the company officers, who had 
better opportunity of noticing them, are absent wounded * * *. ^q braver men died 
that day than Capt. Barnes, of Company F, and Lieut. White, of Company C, who were 
killed while leading their men up to the breastworks * * *; the list of casualties will 
show, leaving the encampment with 29 officers, 23 of them being killed and wounded." 
(O. R., Sen I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 955-957.) 

The official return of casualties as given in the report of the brigade commander 
(O. R., Sen I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 953) gives the casualties of the officers and men of this 
regiment as follows: Total carried into action, 678; casualties of officers, 24; enlisted men, 
345; aggregate, 369. A digression from the official reports to give added testimony to the 
report of Maj. Grimes, will not be inappropriate here; but in order to break the monotony 
of repetition a brief reference to the remarkable military career of this Confederate officer 
will be injected first. Although caught by the falling of his horse when that animal was 
killed, Maj. Grimes escaped without further injury, although nearly every other officer of 
the regiment was either killed or seriously wounded. At the battle of Mechanicsville, June 
26. 1862. another horse was killed under him, and again on Sept. 14, 1862, at Brownsboro, 
still another horse was killed under him and again he escaped serious injury. He was the 
first Confederate officer to enter Gettysburg. In July, 1864, he was with Early's command 
and again his horse was killed under him and every member of his staff either killed or 
wounded and yet he escaped without injury, and again, Oct. 19, 1864, he had two horses 
shot under him without resultant injury. He was commissioned major-general in February, 
1865, and planned and led the final charge of the Army of Northern Virginia, Sunday, 
April 9, 1865, when he succeeded in opening a way of retreat to Lynchburg and held the 
position until ordered by Gen. Lee to fall back. Notwithstanding he served from the begin- 
ning to the end of the war without receiving a serious wound, he was mysteriously assassi- 
nated in the evening of Aug. 14, 1885, as he was returning from Washington, N. C, to his 
plantation, a short distance from the town. A worthless character of the neighborhood 
was suspected of the crime and brought to trial, but for lack of evidence was acquitted; 
he then left that part of the country, but in later years returned and in a drunken orgy 
boasted of committing the crime, entering into such details as to remove any doubt of his 
guilt. The indignation of the community was manifested by the citizens promptly lynching 
the assassin. 

Col. E. A. Osborne, of the 4th N. C. Regiment, in a graphic narrative of the battle 
of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, published in Vol. I, N. C. Regiments (Col. Osborne com- 
manded a company in this battle), says: 

"The regiment was in fine condition, 25 commissioned officers and 520 men and non- 
commissioned officers reported for duty on the 31st of May, 1862, and as they filed out and 
moved off toward the battle-field of Seven Pines they presented a splendid picture of 
manhood, energy and courage. * * * The 4th Regiment was to the left of the stage 
road, the right being near the road, which ran diagonally across our front, crossing the 
enemy's line a little to the left of the front of the 4th Regiment. _ A very heavy redoubt 
was in front of us, bristling with artillery supported by a mass of infantry and flanked on 
either side by extensive earthworks filled with men supported by artillery. A fearful storm 
of shot, grape and canister, tore through the trees, plowing up the ground on every side 



AT SEVEN PINES. 207 

and cutting down the branches and saplings around us. Soon the order was passed along 
the line to move forward. The men sprang to their feet without a word and advanced to 
the assault. For many rods we made our way through the obstructions above mentioned, 
under a terrible fare of musketry and artillery, which we could not return with any effect 
on account of the confusion into which we were thrown by the obstructions and the great 
difficulty in getting over them. Heavy musketry on the right indicated that the battle was 
raging there with terrible fury. Onward moved our devoted men, until at last the open 
field was reached within one hundred yards of the enemy's works. The men quickly 
resumed their places in line of battle and opened fire upon the enemy with such deadly 
effect as to cause a momentary lull in the storm of deadly missiles that were assailing us. 
But again the enemy renewed his fire with redoubled fury. Our line moved on to within 
fifty or sixty yards of the enemy's works. The rnen were falling rapidly. We halted near 
a zigzag fence to await support on the right, which had failed to come up. The enemy's 
fire continued with unabated fury, and it was evident that the regiment could not remain 
there without being entirely destroyed. The writer of this narrative looked around for a 
field officer. Maj. Grimes was near, sitting calmly on his iron-gray horse, with one leg 
thrown over the saddlebow, as afterwards so often seen on the battle-field. I seized his 
leg to attract his attention. He leaned toward me with his ear near my face to hear what 
I had to say. 'Major,' I shouted, 'we can't stand this. Let us charge the works.' 'All 
right,' said the major, 'charge them ! charge them !' I rushed back to the front of my 
company, leaped over the fence, and waved them forward with hat and sword. My com- 
pany, H, rushed forward and the whole regiment instinctively moved with them, yelling 
and firing as they advanced. In front of our left was a field battery, which was instantly 
silenced, also the heavy battery in front of our center and right. On we rushed with such 
impetuosity and determination that the enemy abandoned everything and retired. 

"We captured the works and six pieces of artillery. But again we had to halt to 
await necessary support on the right and left. The writer of this sketch was wounded at 
this point within a few rods of the breastworks. After the works were captured in the 
first assault the line retired to the fence from which we had made the charge, to await 
reenforcements, which arrived in a few minutes, when the whole line advanced and drove 
the enemy away. When the second charge was ordered the regiment passed over the same 
ground over which they had charged but a httle while before. It was appalling to see how 
much the line had been reduced in numbers. The heavy, compact, orderly line of half an 
hour previous was now scarcely more than a line of skirmishers, but they moved with the 
same boldness and determination as they moved before. The ground was literally covered 
with the bodies of their dead and wounded comrades, yet they moved steadily forward, 
directing their fire with telling effect, until within a few paces of the fortifications, when 
the enemy again retired from his works. Of the twenty-five commissioned officers and 653 
men and non-commissioned officers, every officer except Maj. Grimes was killed, wounded 
or disabled, while of the men, 74 were killed and 265 were wounded. Maj. Grimes had a 
horse killed under him in the charge. His foot was caught under the horse, and it was 
with much difficulty that he was extricated from his helpless condition. While on the 
ground and unable to rise, he moved his sword and shouted : 'Go on, boys ! Go on !' Upon 
regaining his feet he saw that his color-bearer, James Bormer, of Company K, was killed, 
when he seized the flag himself and rushed forward, waving his men on to the charge. 
After the works were captured, John A. Slikeleather, of Company A, asked to be allowed 
to carry the flag; and from that day to the close of the war, except when necessarily absent 
for a short time, he bravely bore the regimental colors. 

"A few minutes after the enemy was driven from his works he began to rally in 
rear of his tents. Maj. Grimes ordered his regiment into a piece of woodland nearby and 
opened fire upon him. In moving at double-quick across the open field, to seek the cover 
of the woods, he discovered that the enemy was throwing up breastworks on the right. 
He charged, driving him away and taking a number of prisoners. The night was spent 
upon the field. The men being worn out, were glad to stretch themselves upon the ground 
and rest, surrounded, as they were, by dead and wounded men and animals, while the air 
was filled with cries and groans of the wounded and dying. 

"The conduct of the officers and men in this notable conflict was splendid beyond 
description. Their coolness and deliberation in making their way through the abatis, under 
the most galling fire at short range; the firmness and calmness with which they reformed 
their weakened and disordered line and awaited orders in the open field within seventy-five 
yards of the enemy's works under the same awful and destructive fire; the coolness and 
precision with which they delivered their fire under all these trying conditions; the irre- 
sistible firmness and determination with which they made that wonderful and heroic charge 
in the very jaws of death; the calmness and sullenness with which they retired when the 
danger of being flanked was apparent, and the grim and unwavering determination with 
which they returned to the second charge and continued to fight, all displayed a spirit of 
courage and manliness worthy of any men the world has ever produced. It would be a 
privilege to record the list of the gallant men who fell in this fight, but time and space 



208 CASEY'S DIVISION 

forbid. Their names may not be known to history or to fame, but their comrades knew 
and loved them. We believe the world is better and humanity is honored and ennobled by 
the lives of such men, and that both are the poorer by their untimely loss. 

"The figures in regard to the number of the men engaged and of those killed and 
disabled are taken from Col. G. B. Anderson's official report of the battle. In all this 
carnage these heroic men never for an instant wavered or showed the slightest trepidation. 
It was as if some superhuman spirit had been infused into them, and nothing but death 
could stop them. The writer shall never forget his feelings." 

In a memorial address on Gen. George Bargwyn Anderson, delivered May 11, 1885 
by Hon. A. M. Waddell, the following reference was made to the action of the 4th North 
Carolina Regiment in this battle : "The battle of Seven Pines was a bloody baptism for 
Col. Anderson's regiment; indeed, it was almost unparalleled in its terrible destructiveness 
to that command, for of the 27 officers fit for duty, all except one were either killed or 
wounded, and of 520 men in the ranks, 86 were killed and 376 were wounded, leaving only 
58 out of the 520 unhurt, a record which is the best evidence of the perfect discipline and 
splendid courage exhibited by that glorious regiment in its first hard fight with the enemy." 
(Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. 14, p. 392.) 

From report of Col. William Smith, comdg. the 49th Virginia: 

"On the morning of the 31st ultimo I received your orders to move by the left flank, 
file right, preserving such a distance from the 4th North Carolina Regiment, on my right, 
as would aflford me room promptly to form in line of battle. I accordingly moved, and 
unhappily had to make my way through a trackless forest, encountering at almost every 
step brush, bramble, and pond, and after a most exhausting march of upward of a mile we 
cleared the woods and entered the open field. Passing through this field to the right we, 
with the previous orders renewed, entered the next body of timber, which was either occu- 
pied in common by, or separated us from, the enemy. The 4th North Carolina was on my 
right and the 27th and 28th Georgia on my left. Dressing by the right, we were ordered 
carefully to preserve our distances, that not a moment might be lost in forming in line of 
battle. I endeavored to obey this order literally, and in so doing was brought in contact 
with an enormous abatis and with rifle-pits, all right in front, and with a redoubt on my 
right flank. Here I met with Gen. Garland, who, stating that his brigade had been cut to 
pieces, urged me forward. I gave the word, and my gallant boys dashed into the abatis, 
pressing forward with every possible dispatch. My men were falling fast from the fire of 
an unseen foe — indeed several had fallen in the timber through which we had just passed 
and from the shell of the enemy, and yet they gallantly pressed forward and had more 
than half perforated the abatis — had passed the rifle-pits and were under a galling fire 
from front and flank before I opened fire. * * * We had been under fire for three 
and a half hours, a portion of the time under a combination of four opposite fires. Our 
brigade had promptly relieved Garland's shattered columns, yet during my long and pro- 
tracted struggle of three and a half hours I had received no succor and no command as to 
my progress or management. My regiment which went into action 390 strong only, had been 
cut down to a mere handful. * * * Of the rank and file 32 were killed, 158 wounded, 
and 22 missing." (O. R., Sen I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 957-959.) 

From report of Capt. John R. Bagby, comdg. 4th Virginia Batallion (an irregular 
organization attached to Featherston's brigade during the battle of Fair Oaks) : 

"We were formed in line of battle on the right of the Williamsburg^ road. From 
thence we passed through the woods to an opening in front of the enemy's intrenchments 
in good order, some four or five of the battalion being wounded. At this juncture one of 
the companies (Capt. Bagby's) was ordered to take charge of three pieces of artillery left 
by the retreating foe. This duty was discharged, firing into two regiments of Yankees 
forming to attack us with considerable effect. Also a portion of Capt. Montague's com- 
pany was detailed to assist in Capt. Carter's battery, many of his cannoneers having been 
disabled. The battalion was then ordered fonvard, * * * and ordered to charge the 
enemy, in ambush among felled trees on the right of Barker's house. We passed through 
the enemy's tents, wheeled to the right, and upon reaching the felled trees threw our- 
selves on the ground, and fired upon the enemy whenever they showed themselves. After 
being in this position some fifteen or twenty minutes some officer in our front ordered his 
regiment to retire, and when they reached our position * * * we retired through the 
enemy's tents, and about half the battalion stopped at the intrenchments ; the balance 
retreated farther. * * * The dispersion of Capt. Otey's company was due to the fact 
their first lieutenant (acting captain) was severely wounded, another wounded, and the 
remaining taken prisoner, who, however, escaped upon the second retreat of the enemy. 
We suflFered in this battle very severely, losing in killed and wounded 6 commissioned officers 
and 80 enlisted men." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 968-969.) 



AT SEVEN PINES 209 

From report of Brig. Gen. Gabriel J. Rains, comdg. brigade of Hill's division- 
R^^ '."?"""^'!f "V ^° ^^^ instructions of Maj. Gen. Hill, on the field of battle Brie -Gen 
Rodes brigade being actively engaged with an overpowering mass of the enemy wftht^e 
two nght regiments of my command, soon followed by the third and parroHhe ourth 
we penetrated the woods, to take the enemy in rear, and drive him from his bat eries n^w 
playing with fearful effect upon our troops' We found ourselves in a^wamp but p;essed 

TdZSl P "!?^ """''^ ^^ ^^^ ^^'""^ ^^^ '■^^^ °^ ^^^ ^"^"^y- Here we halted directed by 
a divme ^Providence, exactly at the right place, where I made a change of front by a wheel 
in ine tniclvet, and advancing found ourselves facing the foe. Some of our men had fired 
on wnat l was afraid to be some of our own troops, but it proved otherwise from the dead 
Doaies we passed, and the enemy must have been firing there upon one another. As soon 
as we reached the edge of the thicket, seeing the enemy in front, I ordered the fire Fo? 
a moment it ran along the line, not fairly yet in position, and was then followed bv a 
t^^'a u / continued roll of musketry for full fifteen minutes without cessation, 
i Had heard many a volley before, but never one so long and continuous We evidentlv 
were unexpectedly there, were near at hand to the foe, and struck them like an avalan^/ 
iheir shot and cannon balls came like hail into the bushes around us, but the men lav 
close to the ground and only rose upon the knee to fire. The enemy were in ereat fnr% 
before us, at least ten to one, and increasing by reenforcements, and at their fire about 
lOU of our men broke to tlie rear, but happening to be just there I easily rallied them and 
they fought like heroes, and more than redeemed the act of a momentary oanic All 
acquitted themselves well, and when we emerged from the woods and swept through the 
desolated camp of the enemy, amid their dead and wounded, their property Ivin^ ev/rv 
where around, not one article was taken up by the men, who maintained their rankV 1^^ 
true soldiers and ultimately passed the night in line of battle without fire or light in ^nothll 
part of the woods, ready to receive and check the enemy should he advance also VnkJn^ 
a number of prisoners * * * Our loss in the battle was more than one seVenh of Z 
whole brigade, and of these very few not killed or wounded * * * " (n P c t 
Vol. XI, part I„ pp. 969-970.) ' ^ ' ^■' ^^^- ^' 

From report of Brig.-Gen. R. E. Rodes, comdg. Third Brigade, Hill's division: 

ment '-^^.7,^^%''^^^ T^' 1'-^" ""/ ''^^ °^ skirmishers and the 12th Mississippi Regi- 
^,!"L "'"'^^'^ ^° the attack and immediately thereafter the action began. Under these cir- 
cumstances, as each of the remaining regiments came up I caused it to move forward to 
Uf fitl AiT ^^ ?'^*^'"Fl? moved to the field en echelon and in the following order: 
1st, 6th Alabama *.* * Col. Gordon * * * deployed as skirmishers, covering the 
."1^ w-u°"^ K^ ^^^ brigade; 2d. 12th Mississippi, Col. W. H. Taylor, moving with its left on 
the Williamsburg road; 3d., Heavy Artillery Battalion, Capt. C. C. Otey * * * 4th 5th 
Alabama * * * Col. C. C. Pegues * * * 5th, 12th Alabama * * * Col R. T 
Jones. * * * The King William Artillery, Capt. Thomas H. Carter, * * * i ordered 
to_ proceed by the shortest route to the Williamsburg road, and to follow the left of the 
brigade along that road after the whole of the brigade had advanced. Ascertaining the 
position of the right of the 12th Mississippi * * * i endeavored to move the remain- 
ing regiments rapidly into line of battle with it; but finding that this regiment was pressed 
I moved the 5th Alabama directly to its support. The ground over which we were to move 
being covered with very thick undergrowth and the soil being very marshy so marshy 
that It was with great difficulty either horses or men could get over it, and being guided 
only by the fire m the front, I emerged from the woods upon the Williamsburg road under 
a heavy hre of both artillery and musketry with only five companies of the 5th Alabama- 
the remaining compames having become separated, had moved into the abatis in their 
front and on the right of the 12th Mississippi. Finding that the 12th Mississippi had moved 
forward into the abatis and was gallantly holding its own along its front and my battle 
instructions required me to operate upon the right of the Williamsburg road I ordered 
the left wing of the 5th to move through the abatis and join the right and moving toward 
the right myself, found the battalion of heavy artillery opposite their position in line but 
halted and lying down m the wood behind the abatis, which Capt. Bagby, temporarily in 
command, informed me was in obedience to an order from Maj.-Gen. Hill Ordering 
them forward, I proceeded further to the right, and found that the 12th Alabama which 
had moved over less diflScult ground than the other regiments had, was considerably in 
advance of the brigade, and that, together with the 6th, still deployed as skirmishers it 
was engaging the enemy, having driven him steadily up to his intrenchments. Concentrating 
the 6th, I moved both it and the 12th Alabama about 60 yards to the rear, in order to 
form the whole brigade in a continuous line preparatory to an advance upon the enemy's 
earthworks. While arranging the line of battle the left wing of the 5th Alabama, under 
Maj. E. L. Hobson (Lieut.-Col. J. M. Hall having been wounded), in its eagerness to 
engage the enemy at close quarters and having misunderstood my order to move to the 
right, moved forward without orders into the field in front of the abatis and directly under 
the guns of the redoubt. After holding its position there a few minutes and finding that 



210 CASEY'S DIVISION 

its movement was premature it moved back in perfect order, under a heavy fire of artillery 
and musketry, to the front of the abatis. My line of battle was thus completed. It was 
formed under a heavy fire throughout its entire extent and seemed about equal in extent to 
that of the enemy, which was then in front of his camp and was protected by a redoubt 
and intrenchments. * * * j therefore determined to attack from the position my brigade 
then held. * * * By this time the enemy began to show signs of wavering under the 
effects of a heavy fire from a Confederate battery on my left, which proved to be the King 
William Artillery, under Capt. Carter. Their battery of seven guns was in a moment after 
silenced and the occupants of the redoubt driven out by Capt Carter's five pieces. Capt. 
Carter, as far as the enemy's first line of intrenchments was concerned, had achieved 
a victory, for upon moving with the whole brigade to attack the enemy, having already 
abandoned his guns and redoubt, fled from his intrenchments and camp to occupy a line 
of abatis and woods about 150 yards in rear of the redoubt. * * * From this new 
position they opened fire upon my right regiment, the 6th Alabama, across an open field- 
Finding that they outflanked smartly my right and that my left was exposed, as I saw 
no Confederate troops on that flank, and that the brigade would be well protected on the 
outside of the enemy's works and by a fence extending in front of a thin skirt of woods 
occupied by my right regiment, I gave orders that it should occupy and hold that line 
while I waited for Gen. Rains to come up on my right and until I could examine the 
ground to the left of the Williamsburg road, my left flank being closely approached by 
woods. At the moment of our taking possession of the works I discovered a brigade of 
Federal infantry approaching my brigade from the woods just mentioned on the left of 
the Williamsburg road. The head of this column halted within 350 yards of the redoubt. 
I immediately caused the 5th Alabama to occupy the redoubt and the 12th Mississippi to 
occupy the rifle-pits between the redoubt and the Williamsburg road, and called for a com- 
pany of heavy artillery to turn upon the enemy's column some of his abandoned guns, an 
order which Capt. Bagby's company promptly obeyed. But before he succeeded in opening 
fire Capt. Carter arrived with his battery, and immediately opened fire with the first of his 
pieces and in a moment after with a second. In a few moments Capt. Bagby, having suc- 
ceeded in getting two of the enemy's pieces in position, opened fire upon him, and then 
under the combined fire of those four pieces he gave way and retired. An attack being 
tlireatened in front, as soon as the force on the left was dispersed one of Capt. Carter's 
pieces was, under direction of Maj.-Gen. Hill, who had just arrived, placed in such a 
position as to enfilade the road. At this moment, from a point 600 or 700 yards down this 
road and directl" in front of our position, the ^"em/s battery opened fire upon us with 
considerable effect, sweeping off almost every man from Capt Carter's last-mentioned 
piece. (The Federal battery referred to here was the 7th New York Battery of Casey's 
division, commanded by Capt. P. C. Regan. — Eds.) Finding that Confederate troops were 
arriving on my right and left, I ordered my brigade to move forward again, which it 
bravely did, th:ugh encountering a heavy fire of musketry and artillery from the enemy 
concealed behind a second row of abatis, woods, and fence. My two regiments, the 6th 
and 12th Alabama, suffered severely in this advance. The 6th Alabama, upon moving across 
the field in the edge of which they had first halted and entering the woods on the opposite 
side, driving the enemy before them, encountered a heavy fire of musketry upon its right 
and front, and finally upon the rear of its right wing. * * * j ordered this r^ment 
to fall back to the position it had last occupied on the edge of the field, where it was about 
in line with the enemy's intrenchments, and where, though still under fire, it was somewhat 
protected. * * * When the 6th Alabama moved back, the right wing of the 12th Alabama 
* * * retired with it and took position on its left behind the intrenchments. The left 
wing also started to retire, but at the command of its major promptly resumed its posi- 
tion, but afterwards fell back to a position in front of the intrenchments. At this time a 
portion of the Heavy Artillery Battalion retired and, I regret to say, headed by their officers, 
took refuge in the ditches in front of the enemy's redoubt, a position from which I had 
much difficulty in dislodging them when they were called upon to man the redoubt. I did 
not attempt to reestablish either this portion of the battalion or the 12th Alabama * * * 
in the position from which they had withdrawn, because it was evident that nothing could 
be effected toward an advance while the right wing of the brigade was so exposed. A 
part of the battalion, the 5th Alabama, and 12th Mississippi Regiments, continued to hold 
their ground steadily, though subjected to a constant fire from the enemy's musketry, 
which inflicted a severe loss upon them. The enemy's batteries in the meantime had been 
silenced, but while the contest between them and our own was going on the 12th Mississippi 
and a portion of the 5th Alabama, which were directly between these batteries, maintained 
their posts without flinching. Just after the 12th Alabama had fallen back and about an 
hour after the brigade had assumed its most advanced position, during which time it had 
been under constant fire of musketry, reinforcements commenced to arrive, and in assisting 
Gen. Kemper to place his brigade, so it could move forward to relieve any advanced^ regi- 
ments, which by this time had been under fire fully three hours, I received a wound in the 
arm, which in a short time became so painful as to compel me to turn over the command 



AT SEVEN PINES 211 

of the brigade to Col. Gordon, of the 6th Alabama. * * * The loss in the brio-ad^ »nd 
especially in the 6th Alabama and 12th Mississippi Regiments, had already been serious 
but m this second forward movement, and while holding the advanced position the Inc.* 
inflicted upon it_ was far heavier, the 6th Alabama having lost more than half 'itrlorM 
v ir u bngade was under a constant fire of musketry and artillery during five and a 

half hours, and hence its loss was heavy. The following statement exhibits the casualties 
: iotal, killed, 241; wounded, 853; missing, 5; aggregate loss, 1,099 The total 
number of men carried into action was about 2,200. The aggregate number at camp was 
however, 2,587. The 6th Alabama lost near 60 per cent of its aggregate force. Some of 
its men were drowned after having been wounded, as they fought at times in a swamo in 
which the water was from 6 inches to 2 feet in depth." (0. R., Ser I Vol XT narf T%,^ 
970-976.) ' P " ^' PP- 

From report of Col. J. B. Gordon, 6th Alabama, who succeeded to the command of 
Rodes' brigade during the battle : 

TT ^ "Notified that I was placed in command, I reported to Maj.-Gen. Hill for orders, 
unaer his direction I moved the brigade about half a mile to the rear, and ordered them 
to camp on either side of the Williamsburg road, spending nearly the entire night with 
large details from the brigade in nursing the wounded whom the surgeons had been unable 
to remove. I was ordered soon after the firing began Sunday morning to move the brigade 
torward to support the troops then engaging the enemy on the left of the WilUamsburjz 
road and to prevent the enemy from retaking his earthworks. * * * Forming a line 
around the front of the abatis, on the left of the road, this position was held in constant 
expectation of being called into action, until we were relieved by the briea.de of Gen. 
Colston." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I. p. 977.) i^rigaue oi Lren. 

From the report of Col. C. C. Pegues, 5th Alabama: 
,. , "* *.* .The regiment emerged from the woods in front of the enemy's camo 
which was fortified with a redoubt and a long line of breastworks and rifle-pits and 
advanced toward it over an abatis formed by thickly-felled timber, which in son^e places 
was almost impassable. While m the abatis an order was received xo move by the left 
flank and approach the redoubt more in rear. I immediately moved the right wini? in the 
direction ordered, leaving instructions with Lieut-Col. J. M. Hall to follow with the left 
wing. In consequence of a wound * * * Lieut-Col. Hall left the field before executimj 
this order ; hence the left wmg remained in the abatis in front of the redoubt being at the 
time under command of Maj. R L. Hobson, where it suflFered severely from the enemy's 
batteries and long-range guns. The right wing formed line on the left of the 4th Virginia 
Battalion, and the entire line was ordered by Gen. Rodes in person to charge the redoubt 
While making this charge the left wing emerged from the abatis, took its proper place in 
line, and the whole regiment charged over the ditch and embankment into the redoubt 
where we captured a stand of colors and six pieces of artillery. * * ♦ Jhis position 
was held by my regiment until the command was given by Gen. Rodes to advance. The 
regiment moved through the enemy's camp into the open field beyond under a heavy fire 
of artillery and small arms from the enemy, who was concealed in the felled timber in rear " 
of his camp. Here we remained one and a half hours under a galling fire and unable to 
return it ourselves on account of the Virginia battalion being in front It was here mv 
regiment suffered most severely, losing more than 100 men in killed and wounded at this 
particular spot I was finally ordered to lead my regiment under cover of a woodpile about 
60 paces to the rear, where it remained until the fighting for the day ceased * * • -p^g 
list of casualties * * * shows a loss of 229 killed and wounded and only 2 mj«;«;i"n«y an/« 
unaccounted for * * * (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, pp. 978-979.) °iissmg and 

From report of Col. John B. Gordon, comdg. 6th Alabama : 
« ♦ «* J* 1* i moved my regiment across to the Williamsburg road by the left flank, 
^«,^ aepjoyed them as skirmishers in front of the brigade, with the left resting on the 
f^lt. A T""^ moved forward as the skirmishers from the brigade of Gen. Garland, 
deployed on the left of the road, approached my left flank. This forward movement was 
ditticult and fatigiiing m the extreme. * * * The enemy's advanced posts were first 
Ha^ if"l ^"^^ed by Gen. Garland's skirmishers, then by my left, then by my center, 
ana nnaJly by my ngnt demonstrating that the enemy's line did not extend across the Wil- 
liamsburg at right angles, but nearly parallel to the general course of the Chickahominy 
nver. As my skirmishers entered the open field in which the enemy had erected his earth- 
works a regiment was moved up in line of battle covering my left wing. Upon this regi- 
ment 1 ordered a forward movement under their fire, in order to get within easy range 
JoLJ"xt" ^^; , ^^ rounds were exchanged and they retired to their intrenchments. 
(96th New York with two companies— F and I— 103d Penna.) From the woods 

lfjv^u-°- ™^ "^^' ^^ ""*^'' ^"*^ °^ ^^^ ^'^^ °^ ^h« enemy's works he 
had by this time thrown forward one or two regiments, protected by a heavy rail fence. 
My skirmishers were immediately ordered forward until within easy range, and then, lying 



212 CASEY'S DIVISION 

down behind stumps and logs, they poured a most deadly fire for some minutes into the 
solid ranks of the enemy, when, reenforced and assisted by the 12th Alabama Regiment, 
this line of the enemy was also driven under cover of the woods. Under this fire from 
the enemy some of my best officers and many men fell. Capt. Fox, Company E, no less 
brave than accomplished, was killed ; Capt. A. M. Gordon, Company D, seriously wounded. 
The brigade was now being formed in line of battle just in rear of my line of skirmishers, 
when, upon application to Gen. Rodes, I was ordered to form my regiment on the right of 
the brigade and charge with it the enemy's earthworks. These were soon occupied by 
the briTade. Here the troops on my left halted, but the order not having reached me, 
my regiment moved on into the enemy's camps and cantured a stand of colors. * * « 
Ordered back to form on the brigade, I moved by the right-about until I reached my posi- 
tion, when, anxious to screen my men as soon as possible, I ordered them to lie down. 
A charee on the abatis and swamp was soon ordered. The command was given, 'Forward 
(and pausing for the men to rise), march!' The entire regiment rose promptly and began 
the march to the rear under their conception of the order. Impressed with the importance 
of arresting the movement at once, I galloped about equi-distant between my line and that of 
the enemy, and called to my men by word and gesture to move on the enemy. Promptly 
facing about, and exclaiming from one end of the line to the other that the order was 
misunderstood, they moved at double-quick with such impetuosity that the enemy fled from 
his hiding-places before us. Falling back, however, upon a second line, he poured a most 
terrific fire upon my ranks. * * * We were driving the enemy steadily before us, when 
he suddenly moved upon my right flank a strong force bearing Confederate battle-flags and 
enfiladed my entire line. * * * Messenger after messenger was then dispatched to urge 
the troops in rear of my right to move down to my support. This brigade, although within 
sight and but a few hundred yards distant, failed to give me any assistance whatever. 
Prompt succor would have enabled us to have driven the enemy, already fleeing in my 
front, entirely from the abatis, and have saved to the service one-half of my fallen. * * * 
Gen. Rodes gave the order for this regiment to fall back * ♦ * when they retired to 
the enemy's intrenchments in the rear." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, p. 980.) 

As elsewhere noted only one Confederate regiment, during the entire four years 
war, met with a heavier numerical loss than was sustained by two regiments in the 
battle of Seven Pines; the 6th Alabama, and the 4th North Carolina. The official report 
of Gen. Rodes gives the loss of the latter regiment as follows": killed, 9 officers and 82 
men; wounded, 22 officers and 255 men; missing, 5 men; aggregate casualties, 373. Refer- 
ence has been made to the remarkable military career of the commanding officer of the 
4th North Carolina, Maj. Grimes. The commander of the 6th Alabama, Col. John B. 
Gordon, had a record equally meritorious. From the rank of captain he rose successively 
to the rank of acting lieutenant general of the Confederate army and commanded one 
wing of Lee's army at Appomatox. Before Gen. Lee surrendered he sent a staff officer 
to Gen. Gordon to inquire as to the situation. Gordon's answer was: 

"Tell Gen. Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing 
unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet's corps." (Military Memoirs of a Confederate 
by E. P. Alexander, p. 603.) 

Gen. Gordon was wounded in battle eight times during the war. At Sharpsburg he 
was five times wounded, four rifle balls passing through his body— the fifth passed through 
his face and rendered him unconscious. 

From report of Lieut.-Col. B. B. Gayle, comdg. 12th Alabama: 

"After penetrating a swamp knee deep in water we were in full view of the foe, 
and forthwith received a heavy fire from him. We lay on the ground in the edge of the 
woods for a short time, using our long-range guns to no bad purpose. An order was then 
received to move forward to the right. This was done without hesitation, and the right 
wing, having to cross an open field, received a heaw fire. Here several of our men were 
wounded, but none, I believe, killed. We did not remain long in this position, for the 
enemy, seeing that another regiment to our right was about to flank them, retired. In a 
few moments the whole brigade was in line, and after making a half wheel to the left com- 
menced to charge upon the breastworks and camp of the enemy. In this charge the men 
were exposed to a terrific fire * * *. We oushed onward, and on reaching the works 
that were then deserted found our3elves exposed to a severe cross-fire from the bushes on 
the right; kept close to the ground until orders were given to continue the pursuit, when 
every man rose to his feet and dashed onward. We soon came to thick brush and felled 
trees, in which the fleeing foe had concealed himself. Owing to these obstructions we could 
charge no farther. Here now we lay in the open field, while the enemy, * * «' 

concealed in thick brush in front. Our brave men are falling rapidly. * * ♦ I soon 



AT SEVEN PINES 213 

saw that our exposed position could not be maintained; we were fighting under too many 
disadvantages * * * . After remaining under this fire for more than an hour I per- 
ceived that the regiment on my right had fallen back and the foe that had engaged it was 
now opening a deadlv cross-fire on the 12th. * * * To stand this state of affairs any 
longer I knew would be death to all, so I gave the command to retreat. * * ♦ The 
12th Alabama, while advancing, charged directly through the camp of the enemy. Soon 
after passing it, halted, laid down, and opened a heavy volley, then charged the brush. It 
was while in this hazardous position that our brave colonel was slain. After falling back 
to the redoubt we remained half an hour, and night having set in, retired down the road 
about half a mile, where we remained until morning." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part I, 
p. 981.) 

From report of Maj. Gen. Daniel H. Hill, comdg. division: 

"These facts I communicated to Gen. Johnston about noon on Friday, May 30. I 
received a prompt answer from him, saying that, being satisfied by my report of the presence 
of the enemy m force in my immediate front, he had resolved to attack him, and directed 
me to serve with Maj. Gen. Longstreet and under his orders. I was directed by Gen. 
Longstreet to move v.-ith my whole division at dawn on the Williamsburg road and to lead 
the attack pn the Yankees. I was, however, directed not to move until relieved by Huger's 
division. 

"The relieving force not having reached me at 1 o'clock, the signal gims were fired, 
and my division moved off in fine style, Rodes' brigade on the right of the road, supported 
by Rains' brigade; Garland on the left, supported by G. B. Anderson. Each wing was 
preceded by a regiment deployed as skirmishers. Having been long delayed in waiting for 
the relieving force, the right wing did not advance for a quarter of an hour after the left. 
This exposed Garland and Anderson to tlie whole Yankee force. The right wing was 
hurried forward and came up handsomely preserving the line although wading through the 
mud and water in places two or three feet deep. I now detached Gen. Rains, to make a 
wide fiank movement to take the Yankee works in reverse, while Rodes moved steadily to 
the front. Before he (Rodes) reached the Yankee abatis Garland and Anderson had 
captured a two-gun battery, enfilading the road. A heavy column of re-enforcements was 
now coming up to the assistance of the Yankee general (Casey) commanding at Seven 
Pines. Having previously put the battery of Bondurant in position, I now brought up that 
of Carter, which opened just at the critical moment. The Yankee column was almost in 
musket range of the gallant Col. William Smith, 49th Virginia, and his noble regiment. 
The Yankees came up as on parade day, until Carter's shot and shell began to play among 
them, when they broke and sought shelter in the woods. An animated artillery duel now 
began between Carter's four guns and six Yankee guns. Gen. Rains had now gained the 
rear of the Yankee redoubt and opened fire on the infantry posted in the woods. I now 
noticed commotion in the camps and redoubts, and indications of evacuating the position. 
Rodes took skillful advantage of this commotion, and moved up his brigade in beautiful 
order and took possession of the redoubt and rifle pits. So rapid was the advance that six 
pieces were abandoned by the Yankees. These Rodes had turned upon the retreating 
column with effect. Carter galloped up with his pieces, and these, with the captured guns, 
successfully repulsed an attempt of fresh Yankee troops to recapture the works. 

"We had now captured eight pieces of artillery, the camp, tents and stores of a 
brigade, and had successfully driven the Yankees back 1% miles, forcing them to abandon 
a wide skirt of abatis, rifle pits, and redoubts. My division had beaten Casey's division 
and all the re-enforcements brought him, and had driven him and his supports into the 
woods and swamps. It was desirable, however, to press the Yankees as closely as possible. 
I therefore sent back to Gen. Longstreet and asked for another brigade. In a few moments 
the magnificent brigade of R. H. Anderson came to my support. A portion of this force, 
under Col. Jenkins, consisting of the Palmetto Sharpshooters and the 6th South Carolina, 
was sent on the extreme left to scour along the railroad and Nine-mile road, and thus get 
in rear of the enemy, while a portion, under Gen. Anderson in person, was sent on the 
immediate left of the redoubt, into the woods, where the Yankees had hid after being 
repulsed by the fire of Carter's battery and the captured guns, under the direction of Gen. 
Rodes. The Yankees permitted Gen. R. H. Anderson to get within a few yards of them, 
when they opened a murderous fire upon him from their cover in the woods. His heroes 
replied with interest, and some guns, which were brought to enfilade the Yankee lines, 
added to their confusion, and they were soon in full retreat. They were hotly pursued, 
and R. H. Anderson and Jenkins, assisted by portions of G. B. Anderson's brigade of my 
division, swept on the left of the road, driving brigade after brigade of the Yankees 
before them, capturing two more cannon, several camps, with their commissary and 
quartermaster's stores, and finally, after dark, halting more than a mile beyond the main 
works of the Yankees at Seven Pines." 

***The flank attack of Gen. Rains was most opportune and important. Gen. Garland, 
when his brigade was not actually engaged, reported to me with his aide and his adjutant to 



214 CASEY'S DIVISION 

serve on my staff. * * * Appended is a list of the killed and wounded. From this it appears 
that of the less than 9,000 taken into action nearly 3,000 were struck down. The loss waa 
principally in the three brigades which made the front attack. Rains brigade, which exe- 
cuted the flank movement, suffered but little in comparison. The gallant charge of my 
division demoralized the Yankees and our re-inforcements were not hotly engaged ; the suc- 
cor brought to Casey not fighting so well as his own men. This accounts for the fact that 
more than half of the entire loss in the two days fight fell upon my division. (O. R. Sen I. 
Vol. XI, part I, pp. 943-946.) 

From report of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, comdg. Right Wing, Confederate 
Army: 

"Agreeably to verbal instructions from the commanding general, the division of 
Maj. Gen. Hill was on the morning of the 31st ultimo formed at an early hour on the 
Williamsburg road as the column of attack upon the enemy's front on that road. A 
brigade was placed on each side of the road to advance to the attack, and each was 
supported by one of the other brigades of the same division. In advance of each of the 
columns of attack a regiment as skirmishers were deployed. The plan for the forward 
movement was that fields should be passed by a flank movement of the regiment of 
skirmishers, and the woods in front, once in our possession, the brigades were to advance 
rapidly, occupy them, and move rapidly forward. Abatis and intrenched positions were 
ordered to be taken by a flank movement of the brigades or brigade in front of them, the 
skirmishers engaging "the sharpshooters and the supporting brigade occupying the position 
of the brigades during the flank movement. 

"The forward movement began about 2 o'clock, and our skirmishers soon became 
engaged with those of the enemy. The entire division of Gen. Hill became engaged about 

3 o'clock, and drove the enemy steadily back, gaining possession of his abatis and part of 
his intrenched camp; Gen. Rodes, by a movement to the right, driving in the enemy's left. 
The only re-enforcements on the field in hand were my own brigades, of which Anderson's, 
Wilcox's, and Kemper's were put in by the front on the Williamsburg road, and Colston's 
and Pryor's by my right flank; Colston's just in time to turn the enemy's flank. At tha 
same time the decided and gallant attack made by the other brigades gained entire pos- 
session of the enemy's position, with his artillery, camp equipage, etc. Anderson's brigade, 
under Col. Jenkins, pressing forward rapidly, continued to drive the enemy until nightfall. 

"The severest part of the work was done by Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill's division, but 
the attack of the two brigades under Gen. R. H. Anderson — one commanded by Col. 
Kemper (now brigadier general), the other by Col. M. Jenkins — was made with such spirit 
and regularity as to have driven back the most determined foe. * * * The conduct of 
the attack was left entirely to Maj. Gen. Hill. The entire success of the affair is suffi- 
cient evidence of his ability, courage and skill. * * * ^ rough estimate of the loss on 
the part of the field may be put at 3,000 killed and wounded." (O. R. Ser. I., Vol. XL, 
Part I., pp. 939-941.) 

From report of Maj. Gen. Gustavus W'. Smith, C. S. Army, comdg. Left Wing: 

"At 12:30 o'clock on the morning of May 31, at my headquarters, on the Brook turn- 
pike, I received a note from Gen. Johnston, directing that my division should take position 
as soon as practicable upon the Nine-mile road, near the New Bridge fork roads, to sup- 
port, if necessary, the divisions upon the right in an attack upon the enemy, which was 
to be made early in the morning. I was informed that in case my division did not arrive 
in time a portion of the troops composing the center would be moved forward, and I was 
directed in that event to replace the troops thus moved by my division. Whiting's, Hood's, 
and Pettigrew's brigades were placed near the fork of the Nine-mile and New Bridge road§. 
Hatton's and Hampton's in reserve near Mrs. Christian's farm. As the day wore on, 
and nothing decisive was heard from Gen. Longstreet's attack except occasional firing of 
cannon, it seemed that no real attack was likely to be made, that day at least, but between 

4 and 5 o'clock heavy musketry was distinctly heard, and Gen. Johnston directed Gen. 
Whiting to move the three brigades then at that point by the Nine-mile road to Long- 
street's assistance, and the two brigades at Mrs. Christian's were ordered to move up, 
follow, and support them. 

"All the generals and staff officers were at once occupied in impressing upon the 
troops the necessity of moving rapidly forward. Hood's brigade was upon the right of 
the Nine-mile road. Whiting's upon the road and somewhat to the left, and Pettigrew's 
following Whiting's upon the road. The troops, notwithstanding the mud and difficulties 
of the ground, moved forward in double-quick time, driving in the advance pickets of the 
enemy upon their support, and taking and passing their camps with scarcely a perceptible 
halt or notice, only anxious to find the enemy in force, who were still making resistance 
in front of Longstreet and Hill. Hood's brigade had crossed the railroad to the right 
of the Nine-mile road, part of Whiting's had also crossed, Pettigrew's close upon it, with 



AT SEVEN PINES 215 

Hatton's and Hampton's a short distance in rear, when a fire from two batteries of artil- 
lery opened upon the advance brigades from a position on their left and rear. These bat- 
teries were supported by infantry, and the fire becoming troublesome, it was determined 
to take them, at the same time not giving up the forward movement in favor of Longstreet. 
"Night was fast approaching, and I received from Gen. Johnston instructions to move 
all the troops within reach forward as fast as possible. This order was at once trans- 
mitted to Gen. Magruder, who caused all his troops in that vicinity to be put in motion. 
Gen. Johnston was at this time near the point where the Nine-mile road crosses the rail- 
road. I was about half a mile farther back, and the batteries of the enemy on the left 
were in this rear, but in front of the position where I was. As soon as Gen. Hampton 
came up I directed him to take a by-road through the woods leading to the left and front ; 
left orders for Hatton's brigade to come on by the main road, and moved forward to an 
open field upon the left-hand side of the road. From this point I could for the first time 
see the relative positions of the batteries and the different brigades. I soon learned that 
Gen. Whiting's brigade was returning to attack the batteries; that Pettigrew's brigade was 
also moving in that direction; that Hampton had come upon it and had already attacked, 
and that the three brigadier-generals were all apprised of each other's relative positions, 
and were acting in concert under Whiting's orders. The force of the enemy was not 
known, but it was confidently believed that we would soon capture or drive off the bat- 
teries and resume our march in support of Longstreet. * * * Various attempts were 
made to charge the enemy, but without that concert of action almost absolutely necessary 
to success, and the gallant spirits who attempted it were many of them shot down, when 
the rest would fall back into the line and resume their firing. On no part of the line where 
I was did the enemy at any time leave their cover or advance one single foot. Our troops 
held their position close to the enemy's line until it was too dark to distinguish friend 
from foe. I retired among the last, came off slowly, and was not interfered with by the 
enemy in any manner. 

"In this engagement, which lasted about an hour and a half, the four brigades of 
my division lost in killed, wounded and missing, 1,283, of whom 164 were killed, 1,010 
wounded, and 109 missing. Brig. Gen. (Robert) Hatton was killed. Brig. Gen. (J. J.) 
Pettigrew was severely wounded and taken prisoner. Brig. Gen. (Wade) Hampton was 
seriously wounded, but was able to keep his horse and refused to leave the field. 

"After leaving the wood I heard for the first time that Gen. Johnston had been 
severely wounded and compelled to leave the field. This unfortunate casualty placed me, 
as second in rank, in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which position I held 
until about 2 P. M. of the next day. * * * 

"Between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning of June 1 I had a conference with Gen. 
Longstreet. * * * The troops of the left wing and center remained substantially in 
the position occupied the previous day. * * * Gen. Longstreet was directed to push 
his successes of the previous day as far as practicable, pivoting his movement upon the 
position of Gen. Whiting on his left. The latter was directed to make a diversion in favor 
of Gen. Longstreet's real attack, and, if pressed by the enemy, hold at all hazards the fork 
or junction of the New Bridge and Nine-mile roads. In the morning Gen. Longstreet 
found the enemy in very large force in his front, pressing hirn so strongly that he con- 
sidered it advisable not to send the brigade from Gen. Huger's division, and later I ordered 
three additional brigades to his support. Meantime the enemy threatened Gen. Whiting's 
position, which was not favorable for defense. * * * Reconnaissance made during the 
morning developed the fact that the enemy were strongly fortified in the position attacked 
by my division on the previous evening. This, coupled with the necessity of holding that 
portion of our line which was nearest the Chickahominy and covered Longstreet's left flank, 
induced me to direct Gen. Whiting to assume more favorable ground a little in rear. This 
also brought his line in better relations with the troops of the center, under Gen. Magruder, 
and better secured the angle made by our line in front of New Bridge. Such was the 
condition of affairs upon the field at the time Gen. Lee took command. The next morning 
(June 2) I was compelled by illness to leave the field." (O. R. Ser. I., Vol. XL, part I, 
pp. 989-993.) 

From report of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, comdg. Army of Northern Virginia : 

"Before the 30th of May I had ascertained from trusty scouts that Keyes' corps 
was encamped on this side of the Chickahominy, near the Williamsburg road. O nthat 
day Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill reported a strong body immediately in his front. On receiving 
this report I determined to attack them next morning, hoping to be able to defeat Keyes' 
corps completely in its more advanced position before it could be re-enforced. Written 
orders were dispatched to Maj. Gens. Hill, Huger and G. W. Smith. Gen. Longstreet 
being near my headquarters, received verbal instructions. The receipt of the orders was 
acknowledged. Gen. Hill, supported by the division of Gen. Longstreet (who had the 
direction of operations on the right), was to advance by the Williamsburg road to attack 
the enemy in front. Gen. Huger, with his division, was to move down the Charles City 



216 CASEY'S DIVISION 

road in order to attack in flank the troops who might be engaged with Hill and Longstreet, 
unless he found in his front torce enough to occupy his division. Gen. Smith was to march 
to the junction of the New Bridge road and Nine-mile road, to be in readiness either to 
fall on Keyes' right flank or to cover Longstreet's left. They were to move at daybreak. 
Heavy and protracted rains during the afternoon and night, by swelling the stream of the 
Chickahominy, increased the probability or our having to deal with no other troops than 
those of Keyes. The same cause prevented the prompt and punctual movement of the 
troops. Those of Smith, Hill and Longstreet were in position early enough, however, to 
be ready to commence operations by 8 A. M. 

"In the meantime I had placed myself on the left of the force employed in this 
attack with the division of Gen. Smith, that I might be on a part of the field where I could 
observe and be ready to meet any counter movements which the enemy's general might 
make against our center or left. Owing to some peculiar condition of the atmosphere the 
sound of the musketry did not reach us. I consequently deferred giving the signal for 
Gen. Smith's advance until about four o'clock, at which time Maj. * * * Whiting 
* * * reporting that it [Longstreet's column] was pressing on with vigor. Smith's 
troops were at once moved forward. 

"The principal attack was made by Maj. Gen. Longstreet with his own and Maj. Gen. 
D. H. Hill's divisions, the latter mostly in advance. Hill's brave troops, admirably com- 
manded and most gallantly led, forced their way through the abatis, which formed the 
enemy's external defenses, and stormed their intrenchments by a determined and irresist- 
ible rush. Sucli was the manner in which the enemy's line was carried. The operation 
was repeated with the same gallantry and success as our troops pursued their victorious 
career through the enemy's successive camps and intrenchments. * * * Their onward 
movement was only staid by the coming of night. By nightfall they had forced their way 
to the Seven Pines, having driven the enemy back more than two miles, tJirough their 
own camps and from a series of intrenchments, and repelled every attempt to recapture 
them with great slaughter. * * * Maj. Gen. Smith's division moved forward at 4 o'clock, 
Whiting's three brigades leading. Their progress was impeded by the enemy's skirmishers, 
which, v/ith their supports, were driven back to the railroad. At this point Whiting's 
own and Pettigrew's brigades engaged a superior force of the enemy. Hood's, by my order, 
moved on to co-operate with Longstreet. Gen. Smith was desired to hasten up with all 
the troops within reach. He brought up Hampton's and Hatton's brigades in a few min- 
utes. The strength of the enemv's position, however, enabled him to hold it until dark." 
(0. R. Ser. I., Vol. XL, part I.,' pp. 933-934.) 

The testimony of the Confederate commanders who participated in the assault on 
Casey's division corroborate Gen. Casey in every essential point, and prove conclusively that 
the stigma put on the troops that bore the brunt of the overwhelming attack on May 31 
was entirely unwarranted and did them great injustice. In his dispatch of June 5, to 
Secretary Stanton, Gen. McClellan said: 

"When the facts are clearly ascertained the exceptional gocxi conduct will be 
properly acknowledged." Did he keep faith? On June 24, he relieved Gen. Casey from the 
command of the division, a strong implication that he held the division in derogation. 
In his official report he paid but little attention to Gen. Casey's report and absolutely ignored 
the reports of Gen. Wcssells and Gen. Palmer. The only published statement made 
by him making any amend for his hasty dispatch appears in his official report 
of the operations of the Army of the Potomac, while under his command. This is dated 
Aug. 4, 1863, and appears in full in Official Records of the War Department (Ser. I, Vol. 
XI, part I, pp. 5-105). 

It is claimed, however, that in the above dispatch to the Secretary of War (dated 
June 5, 1862. 10:30 P. M.) and in his official report that Gen. McClellan made full amends 
for the wrong done to the division in his hasty dispatch. Men belonging to that portion of 
the division most unjustly calumniated have defended Gen. McClellan, believing that his 
subsequent references to the action of the division was the amende honorable. The writer 
himself was of that opinion until after he had thoroughly examined the record. Gen. 
McClellan thought so. too, there is no doubt. Under date of June 1. 1875. he wrote to Mr. 
J. A. Swearer, formerly 1st sergeant of Company C, 85th Penna. Regiment, from which 
the following excerpt is taken : 

"By referring to my report you will see that the conclusion I reached in regard to 
Casey's division at Fair Oaks was that the mass of the division did its duty, and that the 
witnesses to the contrary — on the part of small portions — were exceptional. You will find 
the whole subject discussed there." 



AT SEVEN PINES 217 

At a reception given by Civil War veterans to Gen. AlcClellan, Sept. 12, 1885, at the 
Palmer House, Chicago, a few weeks before his death he was jocularly twitted by the 
writer for his unjust telegram, and he left no doubt in the writer's mind by his reply, that 
he believed an injustice had been done to the division, and also that he had made the amende 
honorable in his subsequent dispatch and in his official report, and on the strength of his 
statement so earnestly made, coupled with the high regard in which he had always been 
held by the writer, not only as a general but also as an exemplary citizen, the latter has 
been loth to criticise his actions and his official report in the terms in which a sense of 
justice compels him to do. The most charitable construction that can be put on his ref- 
erence to Casey's division in his official report is that under some stress for time when 
preparing the report that he had entrusted that portion of it to some member of his official 
family who was entirely ignorant of the position of the troops occupying the advance of 
the left wing of the army. Nearly every material statement referring to the position of 
Casey's troops before and during the battle gives evidence of absolute ignorance of the 
real condition. It seems hardly credible that this portion of his official report, a paper de- 
serving the most careful preparation, especially this part of it, should have been prepared 
by the author of "Armies in Europe," or the "Oligarchy of Venice." 

It will be necessary to analyze in detail this portion of Gen. McClellan's official 
report in order to point out the injustice done to the troops of Casey's division who 
defended the redoubt and rifle pits. Numerous paragraphs will be referred to separately. 
The first paragraph will probably explain why Fair Oaks was the Federal name for the 
battle instead of Seven Pines, in advance of which the greater part of the battle was 
fought. It is as follows : 

"On the 28th Gen. Keyes was ordered to advance Casey's division to Fair Oaks, on 
the Williamsburg road, some three-quarters of a mile in front of Seven Pines, leaving 
Gen. Couch's division at the line of rifle pits." 

Fair Oaks was not on the Williamsburg road but nearly three-fourths of a mile north 
of the Williamsburg road on the Nine-miles road where it crossed the Richmond and 
York River Railroad. The name Fair Oaks is said to have been given this particular lo- 
cality because of a cluster of oak trees that was quite noticeable at the time the railroad 
station was located at that point. Two regiments and a battery of Couch's divisiori were at 
Fair Oaks station and the only troops of Casey's division that were near Fair Oaks on 
May 31 were the pickets and the parts of two regiments supporting the picket line, one on 
the extreme right and the other a little south of the railroad. It is important that this 
should be borne in mind in the further consideration of this report. Another paragraph 
of the report says : 

"On the 30th the troops on the south side of the Chickahominy were in position 
as follows: Casey's division on the right of the Williamsburg road, at right angles to it, 
the center at Fair Oaks. * * *" 

The facts are that two brigades of Casey's division were encamped south (or left) 
of the Williamsburg road, and a large force was engaged constructing intrcnchments south 
of the road including "the redoubt," which was fully fifty yards to the left of the road. 
No part of Casey's division was in position at Fair Oaks Station on May 31. The pickets 
from Casey's division were nearly a half mile in advance of the station. They were sup- 
ported by the 52d Penna., which was in position south of and near the railroad, several 
hundred yards in advance of the Nine-miles road, which intersected the railroad at the 
station, and by the 56th New York, north of the railroad, several hundred yards in advance 
of the wagon road leading from the station in the direction of the Chickahominy. The 
reports of Gens. Couch and Abercrombie make it very clear that Couch's division was 
assigned to defend the crossroads intersecting at Fair Oaks Station, and that two regiments 
and a battery of that division were in position north of the railroad previous to and at 
the beginning of the battle. The report gives the disposition of Casey's troops as follows : 

"At this time Casey's division was disposed as follows: Naglee's brigade extending 
from the Williamsburg road to the Garnett field, having one regiment across the railroad; 
Gen. Wessell's brigade in the rifle-pits and Gen. Palmer's in the rear of Gen. Wessells', 



218 CASEY'S DIVISION 

one battery in advance with Gen. Naglee; one battery in rear of rifle-pits to the right of 
the redoubt, one battery in rear of the redoubt and another battery unharnessed in the re- 
doubt." 

From the Williamsburg road to the Garnett field was more than a mile and the report 
has Naglee's brigade of Casey's division covering this distance. The facts are that Spratt's 
battery of four guns, 10-pounders, were advanced about 400 yards in front of the rifle- 
pits north of the Williamsburg road and parts of three regiments of Naglee's brigade 
were sent to its support, viz. : seven companies of the 100th New York, which was located 
south of the road, and eight companies of the 104th Penna., and three companies of the 
11th Maine, north of the road, the extreme right of this advance line did not reach one- 
third the distance from the Williamsburg road to the railroad. The only troops of Naglee's 
brigade that came under the direction of Gen. Casey during the battle or that were any- 
where near the position over which he gave his personal supervision were these parts of 
the three regiments named, the balance of the brigade being completely isolated from the 
division and remained so until after Casey's line of intrenchment fell into the hands of 
the enemy. But in order to show how absolutely incorrect the last quotation is, further 
notice must be taken of it. Palmer's brigade was not in rear of Wessells' brigade either 
when in camp or in line of battle ; one regiment, the 92d New York, was in the extreme 
advance to the left of the 100th New York, supporting Spratt's battery, another regiment, 
the 81st New York, was deployed on the extreme left, while another, the 98th New York, 
along with the 96th New York, of Wessells' brigade, was deployed in advance of the in- 
trenchment, to protect the gap between the 81st and 92d Regiments, while the remaining 
regiment of the brigade, the 85th New York, was deployed in rear of the rifle-pits in 
front of its camp some distance south of the redoubt. The 85th and 101st Penna. Regi- 
ments of Wessells' brigade were deployed north of the redoubt, the left wing of the 
former occupying the space between the redoubt and the Williamsburg road and the right 
wing north of the road at nearly right angles to it, the left of the 101st reaching almost 
to the right of the 85th, the left wing of it being partly behind the rifle-pits and the right 
wing extending beyond the rifle-pits into the woods, the latter consisting mainly of sap- 
lings and undergrowth, concealing from view the contesting foes until in close proximity 
of each other. South of the redoubt in rear of the rifle-pits was a remnant of the 103d 
Penna., men who had been on camp guard and absent when the regiment had gone to 
the support of the picket line. This repetition of the position of Casey's troops may be 
considered as useless iteration, but this is an important point to be considered in explana- 
tion and refutation of other statements that are incorrect. Another paragraph of the re- 
port says : 

"On the approach of the enemy. Gen. Casey sent forward one of Gen. Palmer's 
regiments to support the picket line, but this regiment gave way without making much if 
any resistance." 

The regiment sent forward (103d Penna.) belonged to Wessells' brigade, not 
Palmer's. Had the author of the report read the official reports of the commanding oflacers 
of the regiment, brigade, and division, especially the testimony of the latter before the 
committee on the conduct of the war, he would have found that the regiment referred to 
had made ample resistance to an overwhelming force, statements that have been fully 
corroborated by the official reports of Gen. Garland and Col. Christie of the Confederate 
troops, who first received the fire of this regiment. But following the above quotation 
without any break from the context, the report continues : "Heavy firing at once com- 
menced and the pickets were driven in." This clearly implies that the regiment sent to 
su pport the pickets gave way before the pickets were driven in, although the pickets were 
driven back on the regiment and joined with it in resisting the advance of the enemy. 
However, this point is so immaterial that reference is only made to it to show the 
carelessness with which this part of the report was prepared. Continuing, the same 
paragraph of the report reads : 

"Gen. Keyes ordered Gen. Couch to move Gen. Peck's brigade to occupy the ground 



AT SEVEN PINES 219 

on the left of the Williamsburg road, which had not before been occupied by our forces, 
and thus to support Gen. Casey's left where the first attack was most severe." 

This certainly implies that Gen. Peck's brigade advanced up the Williamsburg road 
and took position south of the road to the left of Casey's troops. The absurdity of the 
statement ought to be obvious to anyone when it is understood that Casey's main in- 
trenchments were south of the road and a majority of his troops were in position also 
south of the road. The question ought to naturally arise, if Peck's brigade were sup- 
porting Casey's left how Rains' Confederate brigade could have flanked Casey's line on the 
left. Gen. Casey in his official report says with sufficient emphasis to have attracted 
attention to this error had not his report been ignored in all essential points, when he 
said: 

"Notwithstanding all these drawbacks and the fact that there were not 5,000 men 
in line of battle, they withstood for three hours the attack of an overwhelming force of 
the enemy without the reenforcement of a single man at my first line." 

But there is another statement in the last quotation from Gen. McClellan's report 
that gives evidence that the author had no proper conception of how the battle began when 
it states that the first attack was most severe on Casey's left. Casey's center was his 
redoubt, in which were planted six guns with another battery of six guns in rear of it 
south of the road. Of the troops engaged under the personal direction of Gen. Casey the 
greatest portion were south of the road, while the first severe attack, as well as the first 
light one, was made north of the road. The brigades that led the advance on Casey's 
division were Garland's and Rodes'. the former, supported by Featherston's brigade, com- 
manded by Col. G. B. Anderson, and the latter by Rains' brigade. Garland's brigade first 
encountered the pickets north of the road, then the 103d Penna., also north of the road, 
and after routing the latter became severely engaged in front of Spratt's battery, which 
was supported by the 104th Penna^ three companies of the 11th Maine and a fragment 
of the 103d Penna., all north of and in advance of the battery. Col. Anderson soon 
brought his brigade to the support of Garland, and Rodes' advanced some twenty minutes 
later and engaged the troops south of the road, supporting the battery, viz.: the 100th and 
92d New York Regiments. At this stage of the battle the attack was certainly severe 
and sixteen guns of Casey's artillery were fired as rapidly as they could be manned, 
repelling the attack. Later Rains' brigade made its appearance on the left but not until 
after the brigades of Garland, Anderson and Rodes had suflFered severely and had driven 
Spratt's battery and its supports to the rear with great loss. In another paragraph the 
report reads : 

"In the meantime Gen. Naglee's brigade, with the batteries of Gen. Casey's division, 
which Gen. Naglee directed, struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle-pits 
against the overwhelming masses of the enemy. They were reenforced by a regiment from 
Gen. Peck's brigade. The artillery, under command of Col. G. D. Bailey, 1st New York 
Artillery, and afterward of Gen. Naglee, did good execution on the advancing column. 
The left of this position was, however, soon turned, and a sharp cross-fire opened upon 
the gunners and men in the rifle-pits. Col. Bailey, Maj. Van Valkenburgh, and Adjt. Rum- 
sey, of the same regiment, were killed; some of the guns in the redoubt were taken, and 
the whole line was driven back upon the position occupied by Gen. Couch. The brigades 
of Gens. Wessells and Palmer, with the reenforcement which had been sent them from 
Gen. Couch, had also been driven from the field with hea\'y loss." 

"The official reports of Gens. Keyes, Casey and Naglee show that a very consider- 
able portion of this division fought well, and that the brigade of Gen. Naglee is entitled 
to credit for its gallantry. This division, among the regiments of which were eight of 
comparatively new troops, was attacked by superior numbers, yet according to the reports 
alluded to it stood the attack for 'three hours before it was reenforced.' A portion of 
the division was thrown into great confusion upon the first onslaught of the enemy, but 
the personal efforts of Gen. Naglee, Col. Bailey and other officers, who boldly went to the 
front and encouraged the men by their presence and example at this critical juncture, 
rallied a great part of the division and thereby enabled it to act a prominent part in this 
severely contested battle. It, therefore, affords me great satisfaction to withdraw the 
expression contained in my first dispatch, and I cordially give my endorsement to the con- 
clusion of the division commander, 'that those parts of his command which behaved dis- 
creditably were exceptional cases.' " 



220 CASEY'S DIVISION 

One must read these paragraphs carelessly, indeed, to conclude that the official report 
of the commanding general improved in words of commendation as to the action of the 
discredited division beyond exonerating the brigade of Gen. Naglee. However, in doing 
so, the entire stigma was transferred to the two remaining brigades. There was no neces- 
sity to have done this to do full justice to Gen. Naglee's brigade. The action of this 
brigade was heroic enough to have given it the place of honor in the battle without 
giving it the credit of doing the gallant work of the two other brigades. In the judgment 
of the writer, Naglee's brigade did the most heroic work, against greater odds, than was 
done by the brigade of any other divisions engaged in either of the two days' battle on 
the Federal side. This conclusion was arrived at by personal observation and a careful 
study of the official reports of both armies, irrespective of Gen. Naglee's report. The 
commanding general gives evidence that he ignored the official reports from which he 
could have obtained accurate information and has based the report on statements the source 
of which he does not give. An analysis of the last two quotations will demonstrate this 
beyond cavil. 

A careful comparison of the reports of Gen. Casey and his subordinate commanding 
officers, with Gen. McClellan's report, justifies this conclusion beyond question. Both 
Gens. Casey and Wessells are explicit as to the position of the troops supporting the 
redoubt and the intrenchments contiguous to it. Wessells' brigade was in position on both 
sides of the redoubt with Palmer's brigade on its left, and remained there until flanked, 
v>rhen, in falling back to avoid capture or annihilation, the intrenchments fell into the hands 
of the enemy. Notwithstanding this is clearly stated in the reports of Gens. Casey and 
Wessells, Gen. McClellan gives the credit to Naglee's brigade without giving any authority 
whatever for so doing, in the following language : 

"In the meantime Gen. Naglee's brigade, with the batteries of Gen. Casey's division, 
which Gen. Naglee directed, struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle-pits 
against the overwhelming masses of the enemy." 

No regiment or part of regiment of Naglee's brigade was at anytime near the 
redoubt or rifle-pits ; neither did Gen. Naglee direct the batteries of Casey's division at 
any time when they were in and about the redoubt ; neither was there a regiment from 
Gen. Peck's brigade at or near the redoubt; Maj. Van Valkenburgh was not killed at the 
redoubt, but a fourth of a mile to the rear of it; Adjt. Rumsey was not killed, but was 
severely wounded, and years after the war served as a member of the Supreme Court of 
New York State; no reenforcements were sent to Gens. Wessells' and Palmer's brig- 
ades at the intrenchment to be driven back; neither was the division reenforced after it 
stood the attack for three hours; Gen. Naglee did not arrive on the battle-field until 
an hour or more had elapsed after the first attack, therefore he could not have been 
present at the first onslaught of the enemy to encourage the men, but Gens. Casey and 
Wessells were in the front cheering and encouraging the men from the very first until the 
lines were finally driven back. Would it have been possible for the commanding general 
to have made so many misstatements of facts had he followed the official reports of his 
subordinate commanders, whose proper function required them to accurately relate in de- 
tail the occurrences and action of their respective commands? Gen. Casey's report was 
noticed in one or two minor instances, relating circumstances which could not readily be 
overlooked, but otherwise every material circumstance related in his report was ignored. 
The official reports of Gens. Wessells and Palmer were absolutely ignored. Gen. Wessells' 
report is simple, terse and unencumbered by any useless verbiage and is intelligible to any 
one who can read English. He criticizes no one outside of his own brigade. On the 
other hand. Gen. Palmer, evidently irritated by the injustice of the criticisms so generally 
hurled at Casey's division, threw himself open to discipline by statements in his report. 
Perhaps he may have thought this the best course to pursue in order to have the truth 
laid bare. Evidently, Gen. Heintzelman wanted Gen. McQellan to take the responsibility 
of disciplining him, for he merely calls attention to it by saying, "There is one state- 
ment in Gen. Pahner's report which it is necessary to notice." The statement referred 



AT SEVEN PINES 221 

to is a severe arraignment of both Gen. Heintzelman and Gen. McQellan. It was as fol- 
lows: 

"For the disasters of the day, those who placed a small force of the rawest troops 
in the army in a position where they would of necessity bear the brunt of an attack on 
the left must bear the blame." 

In other paragraphs of his report Gen. Palmer takes issue with statements in both 
Gens. AlcClellan's and Heintzelman's reports. At about 3 o'clock he says : 

"I believed that it would not be possible to make the men stand much longer unless 
reenforced, and I went to Gen. Keyes to beg for some of Couch's division. * * ♦ HJ, 
reply was that he had formed a new line to the rear." 

Where was Peck's brigade, which Gen. McClellan's report says Gen. Keyes ordered 
Gen. Couch to move on the left of the Williamsburg road to support Gen. Casey's left? 
Gen. Peck says : 

"About 3 P. M. the 93d Penna. * * * rejoined me, with colors flying and was 
placed on left of my line. At this critical juncture Gen. Keyes sent an order for my two 
remaining regiments to move on the main road in support of the front, which he coun- 
termanded immediately on learning of the advance of the enemy on the left. * * * 
About 3 :30 P. M. * * * Qen. Heintzelman inquired if I could press forward on the 
extreme left of the line. On being informed * * * (of) the importance of the position 

* * * directed me to hold it at all hazards." 

Following the last quotation from Gen. Palmer's report, without a break from the 
context, he takes issue with the concluding paragraph of Gen. Heintzelman's report in the 
following words : 

"Shortly after this the divisions of Kearny and Hooker arrived, but not until the 
enemy had possession of the position where the engagement commenced, and which they 
continued to possess until they chose to retire, which was on Monday morning, more than 
thirty hours after the battle. I only mention this to show the injustice of attaching blame 
to anyone for retiring with a meager force from a position which was held by the enemy 
in spite of the larg^ reenforcements in Kearny's, Hooker's and Couch's divisions. It was 
my misfortune to see a portion of the reenforcements greater than my whole command 
retire from the field before they had scarcely felt the enemy." 

Gen. Naglee says in his report: "I have shown in the history of the battle of Seven 
Pines the conduct of every one of the regiments of the First Brigade from the time the 
first volley was fired at noon, until the enemy, having driven our troops from the ground 
near dark," etc. After describing the charge of the regiments supporting Spratt's battery 
as reported by Col. Davis, he saj-^s : "The enemy endeavored to follow up this success, and 
was advancing in closed columns, when our troops being sufficiently withdrawn Col. Bailey 

* * * at my request directed the fire of the batteries of Fitch and Bates * * * to be con- 
centrated on the advancing mass." The last quotation from his report is the only justifica- 
tion for the following paragraph in Gen. McClellan's official report : 

"In the meantime Gen. Naglee's brigade, with the batteries of Gen. Casey's division, 
which Gen. Naglee directed, struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle-pits against 
the overwhelming masses of the enemy. They were reenforced by a regiment from Gen. 
Peck's brigade." 

The language imputed to Col. Davis in Gen. Naglee's report cannot be found in the 
official report of the former ; in fact, it is at variance with it, as Col. Davis implies that he 
knew nothing of the condition or whereabouts of the other regiments of the brigade. Col. 
Davis states explicitly that when the 104th fell back from the advanced position it retired 
down the Nine-mile road, which was a half-mile in rear of the redoubt and rifle pits of 
Casey's division. The colonel makes no mention of Gen. Naglee in his report, but he pays 
him a tribute in the "History of the 104th Penna. Regiment," which he published in 186d 
Coupled with it are some complimentary words on Gen. Casey : He says : 

"I cannot close this chapter without paying a just tribute to the gallantry of Gens. 
Casey and Naglee. The former sat on his large, iron-gray horse, on the Williamsburg 
road, in the thickest of the fight encouraging his troops. He was right up at the front, 
where division commanders do not always go. I particularly noticed his exposed situation, 
and do not see how he escaped the storm of bullets. Naglee was everywhere. He is a 
sort of thunderbolt in battle. He was away on the extreme right of our lines when the 



222 CASEY'S DIVISION 

volley of the 104th announced that the battle had begun on the left. He came dashing 
toward us through field and wood to be with his brigade. In the warmest of the contest 
he dashed by the regiment, cap in hand, the men giving him three hearty cheers, and 
passed toward the left. He was now seen directing a battery, now rallying a regiment, and 
until the battle ended he was in the midst of it, wherever he could be of service. These 
two officers retain in a large degree the confidence and esteem of the men who served under 
them." 

Col. Davis in his book corroborates his official report more in detail. He says : 

"There was no order given to retire, but we were literally pushed back by the supe- 
rior force of the enemy pressing against us. Individual soldiers came almost near enough 
to strike my men with the musket. The regiment retired slowly and sullenly, not an 
officer or man running. » * * When the regiment retired from the field, the enemy 
was pressing us on both flanks, and in a few minutes our retreat would have been cut off. 
* * * When I reached my own camp, » * * j found some fifty of my men, and a 
fev/ officers there. The others had gone down the Nine-mile road, and Capt. Rogers was dis- 
patched to halt them. The 23d Penna. * * * was drawn up in my camp, and I directed 
Capt. Walters to collect the men of the 104th, and cause them to fall into ranks on his 
left. The fire of the enemy soon became so warm at this point that our force was obliged 
to retire * * * and sought a securer position further to the rear. An hour before I 
had received a wound * * * in the left elbow joint, * * * j went to the field 
hospital, where it was * * * dressed by Surgeon Van Etton, of the 56th New York, and 
Assistant Surgeon [Surgeon] Stavely of the 103d. Penna. I did not rejoin my regiment 
again that day until nearly sunset, when the battle had ceased." 

Col. Davis' report and published statement establishes one fact beyond question, that 
none of the 104th Penna. fell back to Casey's intrenchments. So far . as the writer has 
been able to discover, the official report of no other regimental commander of Naglee's 
brigade is published in the official records of the War Department. However, Col. H. M. 
Plaisted, who commanded the portion of his regiment that supported Spratt's battery made 
a report and it is published in "The Story of the 11th Maine," an elaborate history of the 
regiment, prepared by a committee of the Regimental Association and edited by Brev. 
Brig. Gen. J. A. Hill, who became colonel of the 11th Regiment subsequent to the battle 
of Fair Oaks. Col. Plaisted says : 

"I retreated to my old camp ground with the remains of my three companies, and after 
a little while retired to the Nine-Mile road, 100 yards to the rear, where I supposed the 
rally would be made." 

Here again is evidence that establishes a fact that no fair minded person can gainsay 
that this part of Naglee's brigade (Uth Maine) when withdrawn from the front did not 
halt at the redoubt and rifle-pits. There is yet another regiment of this brigade to be 
accounted for, the 100th New York. Gen. Naglee, as has been noticed, has ignored it. The 
only notice given of the action of this regiment which appears in the official records is 
a reference made by Gen. Heintzelman in which he mentions the charge of the regiments 
supporting Spratt's battery, indicating each regiment by name, in which he quotes Gen. 
Casey as saying that this charge would have honored veteran troops. This charge, the 
most heroic one made during the battle on the Federal side, is entirely ignored by the 
corps commander and the commanding general of the army, although the latter gives 
undue prominence to charges made where the enemy made no resistance. There is a 
special reason why the 100th New York should have had conspicuous mention in the 
official reports of the battle. Col. James M. Brown ranked higher than any other officer 
killed in the First Brigade. He fell in the extreme advance early in the contest before Col. 
Bailey was killed. He ranked as high as any Federal officer killed in the battle on either 
day, and yet his name is not mentioned in any official report and the only official notice of 
his death by name in the records of the War Department is found on page 1076, Vol. XI 
(Ser. I, part II), in an appendix, giving the names of officers killed, or who died of wounds, 
not mentioned in the formal reports. Accompanying his name were those of Lieuts. Samuel 
S. Kellogg and John Wilkeson, Jr., of this same regiment, who were also killed in or near 
the abatis, in front of Casey's intrenchments. In the "History of the 100th New York 
Volunteers," published in 1870, the author, Maj. Geo. H. Stowitts, of this regiment, says: 
"The last seen of Col. Brown he was making an effort to rally the scattered fugitives and 



AT SEVEN PINES 223 

make resistance to the last." Maj. Stowitts gives the only account the writer has been able 
to find of the disposition of the 100th Regiment after it fell back from the abatis. 

"The 100th was the first in the fight. Its commander, Col. James M. Brown * * * 
was a fighting man * ♦ *, Though works of defence had been constructed, still 
these new troops were advanced beyond them over the open space and ordered to charge 
through slashing * * *. The order to charge had been given, and Col. Brown shouted, 
"Charge the lOOth," and four regiments of Naglee's brigade did charge * * *. But it 
was madness to hold out longer against the rebel hosts. The order was given to retreat, 
and now, as these heroes turned to pass over and under fallen trees * * * the work 
of death really commenced. * * * Lieut. Col. Staunton affirms that when the enemy 
appeared in a dense mass from the woods with banners flying, resistance was useless, 
since the handful that now remained of Casey's division could not check for a moment 
the impetus of overwhelming numbers * * *. It will be seen at a glance that the order 
sending the 100th Regt. through that slashing, cost it and the country the future services 
of brave officers and meiL * * * The 100th Regt. had gone to the sacrifice, though 
without dishonor. Its decimated ranks told of its brave resistance. The division had 
been forced back beyond its camps * * *." 

Had any considerable portion of the 100th Regiment rallied and made a stand at or 
near the redoubt Maj. Stowitts would not have neglected to mention it in the history of the 
regiment. He clearly states that the regiment was completely routed in the abatis, in 
advance of the redoubt and the "scattered fugitives" were not likely rallied by its chief 
surviving officer, who declares that after the charge at the abatis "it was madness to hold 
out longer against the rebel hosts," and another affirming that "resistance was useless, since 
the handful that now remained of Casey's division could not check for a moment the 
impetus of overwhelming numbers." If any part of Naglee's brigade halted at or near 
the redoubt it would have been from the 100th New York Regiment, as the position of all 
the other regiments of the brigade absolutely precluded them from rallying at or near 
there. Maj. Stowitts' account of the action of the regiment is the best evidence, that 
when "the 100th Regiment had gone to the sacrifice," in the abatis, it did little afterwards 
"to maintain the redoubt and rifle pits against the overwhelming masses of the enemy." 

Beyond his own statement, there is no evidence in the official reports to indicate that 
Gen. Naglee directed the batteries of Gen. Casey's division at any time during the battle, 
beyond ordering Capt. Regan to fix prolonges and retire firing, which was done with one 
piece. This statement of Capt. Regan's, without further reference to Gen. Naglee, has a 
tendency to contradict rather than corroborate the inference of Gen. Naglee that he directed 
the batteries of Casey's division. With the exception of misnaming a road, Capt Regan 
in his official report fully corroborates Gen. Casey as to the position of his battery. He 
certainly makes it clear that his battery was at no time in advance of the redoubt and rifle 
pits. He says : 

"The 7th New York Independent Battery, under my command, remained in position 
on the right of the Nine-mile road [It should have been right of the Williamsburg road] 
directly in front of headquarters, awaiting the signal to commence firing. Our own troops 
were in our immediate front, in the undergrowth of pine [The right wing of the 101st 
Penna. Reg't extended into this undergrowth] which compelled us to reserve our fire for 
fear of killing our own men, and [we] were compelled to remain under a galling fire, which 
wounded 1 man and killed and wounded several of my horses, without the satisfaction of 
replying. At a signal from Maj. Van Valkenburgh we limbered our pieces and moved to 
the left, and took our position in battery, with one section in the road and the other two 
in the field to the right of thei road, and opened on their advancing column and for a 
time held them at bay. * * * Maj. Van Valkenburgh gave the order to limber up the 
four pieces in the field. As the ground was soft and the guns had settled nearly up to 
their axles, with difficulty we got the guns out and sent them to the rear, while we still 
worked the section in the road. It was at this time the ftiajor received his fatal shot and 
fell lifeless from his saddle. At this time all the batteries had left the field and all the 
infantry in our immediate vicinity had been driven back. \ part of the First Brigade, 
the 56th New York, were still disputing the ground with the enemy on our extreme right. 
Gen. Naglee ordered me to Hx prolonges and Are retiring, which was done with one piece. 
The Garde Lafayette (55th Regt. N. Y. Vols.) came up about this time and made a gallant 
charge, but unfortunately got in front of our pieces and prevented us from firing when we 
were able to do so. * * * With two officers and one corporal as cannoneers and no 
lanyard or friction primers, and the regiment in front terribly cut. we retired, and shortly 



224 CASEY'S DIVISION 

after received orders from you {Gen. Casey] to collect the batteries and place them in 
position where they now are." 

"In the meantime Gen. Naglee's brigade, with the batteries of Casey's division, which 
Gen. Naglee directed, struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle pits against the 
overwhelming masses of the enemy." 

The history of the ■52d Penna. Regiment in Bates History of Penna. Vols., so far 
as it relates to the battle of Fair Oaks, is taken almost verbatim from the official report of 
Gen. Naglee. While quoting from the report of Gen. McClellan, "that the brigade of Naglee 
is entitled to credit for its gallantry," the paragraph crediting the brigade with defending 
the redoubt is entirely omitted. What the writer says of the position and action of the 
regiment, irrespective of his quotation from Gen. Naglee's report, is evidence that this 
regiment was at no time during the battle near the redoubt. The following excerpt con- 
tains about all that is pertinent to the battle of Fair Oaks outside of Gen. Naglee's report : 

"The regiment went into camp on the right of the Nine Mile road, a half mile beyond 
Fair Oaks, as a support to the pickets along Garnetfs Held. No other regiment encamped 
so near Richmond, and during the campaign, the picket line extending from White Oak 
Swamp to the Chickahominy, was never advanced beyond the ground won by Capt. Davis 
and his sharpshooters. Seeing his isolated position. Gen. Naglee determined to bridge 
the river on his right and open communication with the headquarters of the general-in-chief, 
and the great body of the army on the opposite bank. For this purpose, the whole pioneer 
corps of his brigade, with hea^-y details, was sent with minute instructions for its construc- 
tion. The point selected was, at this time above and outside the Union lines, and the 
troops on the left bank, hearing the work, opened fire on the party, and sent two regi- 
ments to drive it away. The bridge thus commenced, and rendered passable on the day 
of battle of Fair Oaks, was afterwards chosen by the engineer corps for the great highway 
between the two wings of the army. 

"The battle of Fair Oaks was fought on the 30th [31st] of May. The position of 
the 52d, a half mile to the right, and front of the Seven Pines, brought it into action on a 
different part of the field from that of the other regiments of the brigade, and at a some- 
what later hour. Two companies were on the picket line, and a heavy detail upon the 
Chickahominy Bridge. It moved from its camp in line of battle towards Seven Pines, 
and at first held the extreme right. By the time it had become engaged, the enemy had 
turned the left flank and had broken through on the Williamsburg road. Gen Naglee, who 
had been upon this part of the field, in his official report, says : 'Returning rapidly to my 
56th New York, 11th Maine^ 52d Penna., etc' " 

If the above is at all trustworthy, and it seems to be in harmony with the facts, except 
as stated by Gen. Naglee's report, which it quotes voluminously, it thoroughly substantiates 
the position which this compilation has already established, that these three regiments, the 
.56th New York, 11th Maine, and 52d Penna., were at no time within a half mile of Casey's 
redoubt, and did not participate in the action, excepting three companies of the Uth Maine 
(93 men), until after the enemy had succeeded in flanking the right of Casey's intrenched 
line; and it also clearly authenticates the position of the writer, that this part of Naglee's 
brigade was at no time connected with Casey's lines of battle, either the advance line, sup- 
porting Spratt's battery, or the line defending the intrenchments. 

Geo. H. Johnston, A. A. G., Naglee's brigade, in an article entitled' "Casey's Divi- 
sion," published in "Camp Fire Sketches and Battle Field Echoes" (page 104-107), refer- 
ring to the troops of Naglee's brigade supporting Spratt's battery in advance of the in- 
trenchments, says : 

"Receiving no reinforcements, these regiments, with Spratt's battery, retired to 
the first line of rifle pits. Here was posted the balance of Casey's 2d and 3d Brigades, 
and the battle was renewed with great fury. * * * Disputing every inch of ground, 
we retreated toward the second line, Regan's battery firing up the Williamsburg turnpike 
at the advancing enemy." 

Mr. Johnston gives the position of the other regiments of Naglee's brigade as 
follows : 

"The 56th New York and 52 Pennsylvania, with a detachment of the 11th Maine, 
were on the extreme right of Naglee's brigade, near the railroad, at the conmiencement 
of the battle, where they sufltered heavy loss, their position having been flanked. By 



AT SEVEN PINES 225 

an order of Gen. Naglee, what was left of the 56th New York and a detachment of 11th 
Maine joined the balance of the brigade near the second line, and fought with them 
through the remainder of the battle. When the order to retreat was given to Col. Dodge 
of the 52d Pennsylvania, he begged to be allowed to remain and fight it out." 

Gen. Naglee's staff officer was gracious enough, however, to compliment the division 
commander in the following terms : 

'"Gen. Casey was in the thickest of the fight. Hatless, his gray hair exposed to the 
breeze, it seemed a miracle he wasn't killed." 

Even Gen. Keyes, commander of the Fourth Corps, whilst boasting in his book, "Fifty 
Years Observation of Men and Events," of the fullness and accuracy of his report of the 
battle of Fair Oaks, and should have had some of his personal staff in the front to report 
conditions there, never had a proper comprehension of the position of the troops of Casey's 
division during the battle. In his book he saj's : 

"The battle of Fair Oaks was one of the most sanguinary of the war, and consider- 
ing the isolation of the combatants due to an unexpected rise of the Chickahominy, the 
Union cause was in greater danger on the 31st of May, 1862, than at the date of any other 
battle except Gettysburg. It was called by the Confederates the battle of Seven Pines, and 
that is its proper designation, because there the principal fighting was done and the greatest 
losses on both sides sustained. In all the numerous histories that I have seen not one 
contains a tolerably fair account of the battle of Fair Oaks. In none of the reports of the 
chiefs engaged on our side except mine are the positions of the brigades of my corps at 
the beginning of the action stated. Without a clear knowledge of those positions, a hun- 
dred persons might read all the reports and all arrive at wrong and different conclusions. 

* * * To comprehend the battle let it be understood that the place called Seven Pines is 
at the junction of the Williamsburg and Nine Mile roads. At that point the reader must 
fancy himself placed. Looking thence up the Williamsburg road towards Richmond, he 
will have Casey's redoubt half a mile from him, on the left of that road and near to it. 
Casey's division of three brigades of infantry, and certain artillery under Col. Bailey, forms 
the first line which extends to the right across to the railroad, and which is about a mile 
off. and to the left to the White Oak swamp, which was, owing to heavy rains, less than a 
mile distant. Most of Bailey's artillery was in and near the redoubt, the horses outside. 
Palmer's brigade is on the left, Wessells' brigade in the center, and Naglee's brigade on 
the right of Casey's line, with two regiments across the railroad. In front of Casey's line, 
at an average distance of a long musket range, were woods and thickets that concealed the 
enemy, whose approach was down the Williamsburg road and through other openings in 
the woods. .* * * Now it is probable that none of the regiments I sent to support 
Casey's line actually got quote up to his redoubt, but the ooth New York, the 23d and 61st 
Penna., the 7th Mass., and others under Couch and Abercrombie supported him valiantly. 

* * * Until Casey's line was broken, and I confess he held it with masterly conduct and 
bravery, I acted the part of a corps commander by watching operations at a certain dis- 
tance, though I was not a minute out of the range of the enemy's shot and shell. * * * 
Having failed to discover in any of the printed histories of the Peninsula campaign an 
account of the services of the 4th Corps that was not imperfect, garbled, unfair, or shock- 
ingly prejudiced, I addressed a letter to my former chief of staff, Col. C. C. Suydam, dated 
Dec. 24, 1877, from which I extract the following: 'We owe it to the brave men with 
whom we fought in the Army of the Potomac to establish the truth in regard to their 
service. * * * Those first unfinished works of ours (that is, the chief and greatest 
number of artificial defenses), where Bailey was killed, were on the right and left of the 
Williamsburg road, the redoubt being on the left of that road, and fully a mile from the 
railroad, astride which, on Casey's extreme right, Naglee's brigade was posted at the be- 
ginning of the action. The supports of the redoubt were Wessells' and Palmer's brigades, 
and those brigades, being hotly engaged from the beginning of the action, could not and 
did not go to the assistance of that of Naglee." 

So far as the writer has been able to glean, no one has ever called in question Gen. 
McClellan's statement as to Naglee's brigade defending Casey's redoubt. Even Gen. Keyes, 
who in his "Fifty Years' Observation," criticises the Count of Paris for being misled by 
this statement, failed to notice where the Count secured his information. He quotes from 
the Count's history of the Civil War in America as follows : 

"The first works of the Federals, yet unfinished, simple abatis or epaulements, the 
profile of which could not protect the men, were occupied by Naglee's brigade. This resisted 
energetically, and the division artillery directed by an old officer of Regnjlars, Col. Bailey, 
made great ravages in the ranks of the assailants. * * * jhe other two brigades of 



226 CASEY'S DIVISION 

Casey hastened to the support of Naglee, and in spite of great losses they held good ag^ainst 
the Confederates whose nximbers increased unceasingly." 

Gen. Keyes then comments on the above quotation as follows : 

"The above extract conveys an impression absolutely foreign from the truth, in the 
most essential particulars. Those first unfinished works of ours (that is, the chief and 
greatest number of artificial defences), where Bailey was killed, were on the right and 
left of the Williamsburg road, the redoubt being on the left of that road, and fully a mile 
from the railroad, astride which, on Casey's extreme right, Naglee's brigade was posted at 
the beginning of the action. The supports of the redoubt were Wessells' and Palmer[s bri- 
gades, being hotly engaged almost from the beginning of the action, could not and did not 
go to the assistance of that of Naglee." 

Gen. Keyes, in his criticism of the Count, gives evidence that he had no proper con- 
ception of Casey's lines of battle. If Naglee's brigade was posted astride the railroad fully 
a mile from the redoubt, Casey's line of battle would have presented a front fully a mile 
and a half in length. Casey's line supporting the redoubt did not extend a fourth of a mile 
to the right of the redoubt and had no protection on its right flank. The two isolated 
regiments of Naglee's, supporting the pickets on the extreme right had no connection or 
cooperation with either of Casey's lines — the advance supporting Spratt's battery, or the 
line supporting the redoubt. Neither of these regiments was engaged at the beginning of 
the action. The 27th Georgia, holding the extreme left of G. B. Anderson's brigade, came in 
contact with the 56th New York in the woods south of the railroad, but supposing they 
were confronted by a superior force and finding they were separated from the other regi- 
ments of the brigade, after a brief contest retired, until reenforced by the 6th South Caro- 
lina, and the Palmetto Sharpshooters of R. H. Anderson's brigade when it was driven back. 
There is no report of this part of the action on the Federal side. Col. Jenkins, who was 
in command of the Confederate forces, says of this part of the action: "Our advance was 
now continued, with little or no opposition, through the enemy's camp and across a neigh- 
borhood road leading to the railroad." Gen. Keyes quotes further from the history of 
the Count, as follows : 

"The Government, always animated by a secret jealousy against Gen. McQellan, sel- 
dom communicated to the public the news it received from him; but after a battle like this 
silence was impossible, and it caused the first dispatch from the commander-in-chief (Mc- 
Clellan) to be printed. Unfortunately the latter, deceived by the report of Heintzelman, 
cast unjust blame upon Casey's division. This dispatch was corrected in Washington, but 
in a manner to aggravate the pernicious effect of the error it contained. The urmierited 
censure was allowed to remain, while the praise which McClellan awarded to Sumner was 
suppressed. The general-in-chief soon reestablished the truth, and it was known that the 
army had been saved by the tenacity of Naglee & Bailey, by the order that Kearny had com- 
municated to the brigades of Jameson and Berry, and finally by the indomitable energy of 
the aged Sumner." 

Commenting on the above quoted paragraph Gen. Keyes says : 

"I am ignorant of the circumstances which led to the conclusion that the army was 
saved in the way and by the officers above referred to, but the justice of that conclusion I 
deny emphatically. Leaving myself apart and my name to be placed where, after a careful 
examination of all reports in which my name occurs, it properly belongs, I can with con- 
fidence assert that it would have been more in accordance with equity and truth to say the 
army had been saved bv the tenacity of Naglee and Bailey, by the order that Kearny had com- 
ner." * * * • 

After again quoting from the Count's history, in which the latter refers to Kearny in 
complimentary terms Gen. Keyes continues : 

"It is true that Kearny came up and got into action 15 or 20 minutes after 4 o'clock 
P. M.. but he came in obedience to the orders of his corps commander. He was opposed by 
greatly superior numbers, and in a short time his force and all around him were repulsed 
and scattered." 

"For my part I am unable to consider Gen. Naglee's report of the battle of Fair Oaks 
as a reliable document for its history. Gen. D. N. Couch's report is essentially important. 
The credit given to Naglee's report, and to its author, by the Count of Paris, if by chance 
they met, justifies me in speaking further of Naglee and of his peculiar traits as an officer, 
his bravery and energy being considered by me unquestionable. In all armies there is a 



AT SEVEN PINES 227 

class of men who are at variance with their commanding officer. Of that class so far as 
my readmg and military experience extends, Henry M. Naglee is entitled to stand head 
He came to the corps from Gen. Hooker's division, and at his first interview with me he 
discharged a tirade of maledictions against that officer, which made so slight an impression 
that, if Hooker had rifled me of my fondest hopes, it would not have occurred to me to 
u^f^ \ word that Naglee had said against him by way of revenge or justification (It 
should be remembered that the same order assigning Gen. Naglee to Casey's division re- 
lieved him from arrest in Hooker's division. Ed.) I am not certain that Naglee was ever 
under the command of Gen Sumner, but the following circumstance induces me to suppose 
he had been subject to that old hero's orders. Not long after the battle of Fair Oaks, several 
members of Congress came down to the camps. Naglee, being informed of their approach 
went down the road and intercepted them. He told me afterwards that he found an oppor- 
tunity to tell them what had been done, and he trusted he had told them enough to prevent 
old Sumner from getting a brevet !" 

It is relevant in this article to call attention to what yet seems to be an unsettled con- 
troversy between writers favoring the respective armies engaged in the battle of Seven Pines 
—as to which army was entitled to claim the victory. This is relevant and also necessary 
to do full justice to Casey's division. Gen. McClellan not only traduced the raw division 
in his dispatch to Sec. Stanton but in a subsequent dispatch to the Secretary robbed them 
of what was then considered a distinction— holding the most advanced position before the 
enemy's lines in proximity to the Confederate capital. The fact is worthy of note here, that 
the picket line defended by Casey's troops on May 31, 1862, was never again reestablished or 
maintained, and that this division advanced to and maintained a position closer to the capital 
of the Confederacy than any other Federal troops during the war, until its capitulation in 
1865. 

Another fact worthy of note is, that notwithstanding Gen. Heintzelman had received 
instructions from Gen. McClellan to "hold the Seven Pines at all hazards," that the 4th and 
3d corps of the Army of the Potomac were driven back a mile in rear of the Seven Pines 
and did not attempt to retake the position until after the enemy had peaceably retired. It 
is not necessary to refer to the Confederate reports or to Confederate writers to establish this 
fact; the official reports of the Federal commanders who were competent to speak on the subject 
settle this point beyond question. Notwithstanding these reports are explicit on this point, 
the impression made on the country by the first dispatches of Gen. McClellan to Secretary 
Stanton, and in a measure substantiated in his official report, has been so strong that writers 
who personally should have known better have written critically and dogmatically on this 
phase of the battle, evidently without taking the trouble to read these reports. At so late 
a date as May, 1885, there appeared in the Century Magazine an article, entitled "The 
Peninsular Campaign," by Gen. McClellan, reproduced in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil 
War" (Vol. II, pp. 160-187), in which the following statement is made: 

"Well, aware of our difficulties, our active enemy, on the 31st of May, made a violent 
attack upon Casey's division, followed by an equally formidable one on Couch, thus com- 
mencing the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines. * * * In the morning his renewed 
attacks were easily repulsed, and the ground occupied at the beginning of the battle more 
than recovered." 

In "McClellan's Own Story," published subsequent to the death of Gen. McClellan, the 
following letter appears written by the general to Mrs. McClellan. It is dated June 2, 8 p.m.: 

• c"^^^ enemy attacked on Saturday and Sunday with great ferocity and determination ; 
their first attack alone was successful. Casey's division broke. As the other divisions came 
up they checked the enemy, and we gradually got the better of him ; he was badly handled 
before night. On Sunday morning he renewed the attack and was everywhere repulsed in 
disorder and with hea\ry loss. We had regained all the ground lost, and more, last night; 
today we are considerably in advance of the field of battle." 

In Gen. McClellan's second dispatch to Sec'y Stanton, dated 12 P. M. June 2 in which 
he again reflected on Casey's troops he made the statement: "The result is that our left 
is now within four miles of Richmond." The basis for this telegram was Gen. Heintzel- 
man's dispatches of same date, the first sent at 6 A. M. in which the statement is made: 
"Our pickets are half a mile beyond Gen. Casey's old camp." and one sent at 11 :45 A. M. : 



228 CASEY'S DIVISION 

"Gen. Hooker reports that he is two miles in advance of Casey's camp and about four 
miles from Richmond, with seven regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry." 

In his official report Gen. McClellan describes the termination of the battle on Sunday, 
June 1, as follows : 

"On the opening of the firing in the morning Gen. Hooker pushed forward on the 
railroad with two regiments (5th and 6th New Jersey), followed by Gen. Sickles' brigade. 
* * * He at once made the attack with the two New Jersey regiments, calling upon Col. 
Ward to support him with Gen. Bimey's brigade. This was well done, our troops advancing 
into the woods under a heavy fire, and pushing the enemy before them for more than an 
hour of hard fighting. A charge with the bayonet was then ordered by Gen. Hooker with the 
5th and 6th New Jersey, 3d Maine and 38th and 40th New York, and the enemy fled in 
confusion, throwing down arms and even clothing in his flight. Gren. Sickles, having been 
ordered to the left, formed line of battle on both sides of the Williamsburg road and 
advanced under a sharp fire from the enemy, deployed in the woods in front of him. After 
a brisk interchange of musketry fire while crossing the open ground, the Excelsior Brigade 
dashed into the timber with the bayonet and put the enemy to flight. On the right the 
enemy opened fire after an hour's cessation, which was promptly responded to by Gen. 
Richardson's division. * * * In about an hour Gen. Richardson's whole line advanced, 
pouring in their fire at close range, which threw the line of the enemy back in some confu- 
sion. This was followed up by a bayonet charge, led by Gen. French in person, with the 
57th and 66th New York, supported by two regiments sent by Gen. Heintzelman, the 71st 
and 73d New York, which turned the confusion of the enemy into precipitate flight. One 
gun captured the previous day was retaken. Our troops pushed forward as far as the lines 
held by them on the 31st before the attack. * * * On the next morning a reconnoissance 
was sent forward, which pressed back the pickets of the enemy to within 5 miles of Rich- 
mond ; but again the impossibility of forcing even a few batteries forward precluded our 
holding permanently this position. The lines held previous to the battle were therefore 
resumed." 

Gen. Heintzelman in his report says : 

"Our troops pushed as far forward as the battlefield of the previous day * * *• 
On the next morning I sent forward Gen. Hooker with the portion of his division 
engaged the day before to make a reconnaissance, which he did in a most gallant manner 
far beyond the position we had on Saturday. As he advanced the enemy's pickets fell back. 
Our pickets got to within 5 miles of Richmond. In the afternoon our troops fell back and 
occupied the positions we held before the battle." 

Gen. Hooker's report says : 

"The following morning (Monday) * * * all the ground we had lost on Saturday 
was reoccupied and held." 

Gen. Sickles in his report says : 

"The enemy having been driven from that part of the line, I recalled Col. Graham 
and Maj. Holt, posting the former on the right of the Fourth and holding the First in 
reserve, covered by some timber in the rear on the right of the road. In this position the 
enemy opened a desultory and harmless fire upon my left from a field battery in front, 
the shot and shell falling in the woods in front, and in the field to the rear. * * * 
Maj. Toler * * * reported to me that the enemy were in force about half a mile to the 
front and moving toward our left. Lieut. Col. Potter, with six companies of the Second 
Regiment, was then pushed forward to establish outposts and advance to the Seven Pines, 
being a porion of the battle ground of Saturday. * * * During the night the enemy 
fell back a mile or more on Richmond, moving their artillery and wagon train along a 
road leading from the left of Casey's camp." 

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia 
during the first day of the battle of Fair Oaks, is the author of an article which appeared 
in the "Century War Series," and also published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" 
(Vol. II, pp. 202-218), entitled "Manassas to Seven Pines." In this article the general 
refutes the Federal claim of victory in the following mild terms : 

"Officers of the Federal army have claimed a victory at Seven Pines. The Confed- 
erates had such evidences of victory as cannon, captured intrenchments, and not only sleeping 
on the field, but passing the following day there, so little disturbed by the Federal troops 
as to gather, in woods, thickets, mud, and water, 6,700 muskets and rifles." 

To the above the editors of "Battles and Leaders" have a foot-note which takes issue 
with Gen. Johnston as follows : 

"The Union position at Fair Oaks was, in general, maintained on both days of the 



AT SEVEN PINES 229 

battle. Part of the field east of Seven Pines (but not Casey's camp, which was west) was 
regained on the second day by Gen. Heintzelman, who reported that 'our troops pushed as 
far forward as the battle-field of the previous daj', where they found many of our wounded 
and those of the enemy.' Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, who advanced to Casey's camp on June 2d, 
the Confederates having withdrawn in the night, states in his report that 'the fields were 
strewn with Enfield rifles, marked "Tower, 1862," and muskets, marked "Virginia," thrown 
away by the enemy in his hurried retreat. In the camp occupied by Gen. Casey and Gen. 
Couch on Saturday before the battle of Seven Pines, we found rebel caissons filled with 
ammunition, a large number of small arms and several baggage wagons.' " 

The official reports of both Federal and Confederate commanding officers fail to 
give the location of the advance lines of the respective armies at the close of the battle 
on Saturday evening, at Fair Oaks. The reports, however, of Gen. Couch and Gen. Aber- 
crombie are so clear as to the position of the Union troops at Fair Oaks during the after- 
noon of May 31, that it is difficult to comprehend why the editors of "Battles and Leaders" 
should make the opening statement in the above paragraph. According to Gen. Couch, 
the 65th New York and 31st Penna., with Brady's battery, were in position at Fair Oaks 
Station guarding the approaches to that point. Gen. Abercrombie differs somewhat from 
this statement in crediting the 61st Penna. with being there instead of the 65th New 
York. The latter being the most competent to speak, is no doubt correct. He also makes 
it clear in his report that these two regiments were north of the railroad. Fully a half-mile 
in advance were the pickets of Casey's division in position, with parts of two regiments of 
this division intervening as supports to the pickets. Gen. Couch says "large masses of the 
enemy were moving across the railroad to the front and right with the intention of inclos- 
ing us. Therefore, with Gen. Abercrombie, four regiments, the battery and prisoners, we 
moved off toward the Grapevine Bridge, for half a mile, and took a position facing Fair 
Oaks." Gen. Abercrombie afTected, no doubt, by the atmosphere of calumny, hurled on 
Casey's "raw troops" from every direction, had to join in the hue and cry by saying, "I was, 
by the falling back of Casey's division, entirely cut off from the regiments of my brigade 
engaged in the center." There was no portion of Casey's division between his center and 
right except the pickets and supports after they were driven back from the advance. Gen. 
Abercrombie further states : "Finding my position untenable, I fell back on the road front 
the depot to Trent's house as far as Courtney's house, about half a mile, and there formed 
line of battle." * * * Here is evidence that no one can dispute that the Union position 
on the first day was a mile in rear of what it had been before the battle was opened. So 
far as the published official reports show any light, there is no evidence presented that the 
Federal forces regained the position occupied by the right of Couch's division on the first 
day. But even if they had succeeded in regaining the position occupied by Couch's division, 
Casey's pickets were a half-mile in advance of this point when the attack was made. From 
the best knowledge the writer has been able to gather, the ground immediately contiguous 
to Fair Oaks Station was in the possession of the Confederates during Saturday night. 
Gen. Johnston received his wound about dark on the Nine-mile road in close proximity 
to the railroad, and if the Confederates were not in possession of the point formerly occupied 
by the 31st and 61st Penna. and Brady's batter^', they commanded the position. 

Brevet Maj. Gen. George W. Mindil, who was a member of Gen. Kearny's staff at 
the battle of Seven Pines, made a critical reply to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's "Narrative." 
This was published at Philadelphia in 1874 in pamphlet form, 250 copies only being printed 
for private distribution. As a member of Kearny's staff and subsequently attaining the high 
rank of brevet major general of volunteers, his criticisms will be regarded as authoritative 
by many. Gen. Mindil says : 

"It is not our purpose at this time to review his book at length, nor to point out the 
many errors into which the Confederate general has perhaps unintentionally fallen, though 
this should be done at no distant day, for the sake of the historian who is yet to write the 
truthful history of our late civil war. We shall confine ourselves to his account of the 
important battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, as it was called by the Confederates, agreeing 
with him 'that no action of the war has been so little understood as that of Seven Pines.' 
To us it is certain that he did not himself understand it, for he is entirely ignorant of the 
position, strength, and morale of the Union troops at the close of the first day's battle, and 



230 CASEY'S DIVISION 

their subsequent victorious fight and advance on the following day. * * * Gen. Heintzel- 
man was anxious to push forward with the 3d Corps, on Sunday afternoon ; but being told 
it would interfere with the plans of the commanding general, who, towards the close of the 
fight, had reached the field, he was induced to countermand his orders. Being still unsatis- 
fied, however, all reports from the front agreeing as to the complete demoralization of the 
enemy, Gen. Heintzelman ordered forward, on Monday morning, the division of Gen. 
Hooker to find out their whereabouts ; Gen. Sumner was asked at the same time to move in 
support, which he declined to do, in the absence of higher orders. Gen. Heintzelman. 
having telegraphed the movement to Gen. McClellan, permitted Gen. Hooker to continue on 
till about 4 o'clock P. M., when he was within four miles of Richmond, and had met nothing 
but some pickets, when orders from Gen. McClellan directed him 'to return from his brilliant 
reconnoissance.' Does not all this show the activity of Gen. Heintzelman, on Sunday, in 
gallantly recovering his lost ground, and, on Monday, in assuming the offensive in pursuit 
of a retreating and defeated foe? And does not this vigorous action on his part disprove 
the charge of 'disheartened and demoralized troops' made by Johnston? Had Gen. Heintzel- 
man been properly supported, what important ends might not have been gained? — the capture 
of Richmond itself was not beyond possibility. On this point Gen. Heintzelman writes : 'I 
believe that the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, opened to us the road to Richmond, 
and that my move on Monday, had it been supported and followed up, we would have found 
it so. I did not know this when I ordered the pursuit, but I believe in following up a 
defeated enemy. If you have suffered, he must have suffered more, or he would not have 
retreated, and then you have the moral force of an advance.' * * * That they were 
attacked in turn on Sunday morning by Heintzelman's troops, and driven back through the 
captured camps ; * * * That when all firing had ceased, about 2 P. M. Sunday, the 
entire Held fought over had been regained by the Union troops, Casey's lines were reoccu- 
pied, the Confederates being in full retreat. The very best evidence of successful fighting 
is the retention at the close of an engagement of the field fought over. That on Monday 
morning, June 2, Hooker's division advanced two miles nearer Richmond, without being 
seriously resisted, and we can only infer from this, demoralization on the part of the enemy. 
* * * But Keyes did have in position along the Nine-mile road the division of Gen. 
Couch, about 7,000 strong, the gallant remnant of Naglee's brigade, some 1,200 more, and 
four or five batteries of artillery. * * * The Confederate leader contributes the pages 
of his 'Narrative' 'for the use of the future historian, and we write our answer, in the 
interest of truth only, to guide the pen of the same future authority. We have no blunders 
to hide, no false movements to explain, no acts of questionable generalship to defend. We 
write the truth simply as we saw it, for we opposed Gen. Johnston at the Seven Pines 
and near Fair Oaks, as a staff officer to the brave and gifted lamented Phil. Kearny." 

Had Gen. Mindil taken the trouble to have examined the official reports of the Federal 
commanders most competent to speak on the subject, he would have refrained from making 
the hasty and intemperate criticism of Gen. Johnston's book. Gen. Hooker's bombastic claim 
is no doubt the source of all this misinformation. Before the Congressional Committee he 
testified as follows: 

"That was the end of the fighting of that battle. A part of my troops occupied the 
camp that had been occupied the day before by Gen. Keyes' corps and the ground that he 
had lost that day. On Monday * * * I received orders to make a reconnoissance in force 
through the camp and beyond it. I did so without any resistance, except a little picket 
firing, and proceeded to perhaps within three and a half or four miles of Richmond, on the 
Williamsburg road." 

This statement does not fully harmonize with his dispatch to Gen. Heintzelman on 
his return from this reconnoisance, in which he says : 

"I found skirting the swamp in front of Casey's camp, on the Richmond road, two 
roads — one leading to the railroad, the other branching toward the James River and to the 
South of Richmond. These were traversed for some distance, the former to the railroad — 
without important discoveries. In advance of these roads the enemy appeared to have a 
regiment of cavalry and three of infantry, but as the latter were mostly concealed in the 
forest, it was not prudent to determine their number. It may have been much greater. Our 
pickets exchanged a few shots. On my return my command encamped in rear of Casey's 
camp." (O. R-, Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 209.) 

The road traversed by Gen. Hooker's troops on this reconnoissance, leading from the 
Williamsburg road to the railroad, was fully 150 yards in rear of Casey's picket line. It 
was on this road that Maj. Gazzam formed the 103d Penna. after falling back from its first 
position in support of the pickets. Authentic information as to when and how the advanced 
position held by Casey's troops on May 31, and captured by Gen. Hill's division, was 



AT SEVEN PINES 231 

recaptured by the Federal troops, will be found in the official reports of the commanding 
oflScers of the various regiments of the Excelsior Brigade, who were the first to reoccupy 
the position formerly held by Casey's division. The report of Lieut.-Col. Potter of the 2d 
Excelsior (71st N. Y.) is the most comprehensive and trustworthy. He says: 

"Immediately after daybreak, June 2, I was" ordered to take command of five companies 
and reoccupy the position of the evening previous; * * * As we filed through the swamp 
the lines occupied by the enemy of the previous evenmg seemed to be abandoned. I posted 
my command same as the evening previous, * * * After findmg their position abandoned 
I immediately sent report to Gen. Sickles * * *, and, taking Co. A. from my reserve, 
advanced with it to the redoubt and line of earthworks occupied by the enemy the evening 
previous." 

This simple statement of Lieut.-Col. Potter is much more trustworthy than the official 
statements of Gens. McClellan, Heintzelman, and Hooker, who talk about "driving the 
enemy back." These three generals have informed the historians that Hooker's troops 
pressed back the enemy "to within 5 miles of Richmond"; "far beyond the position we had 
on Saturday" ; "to perhaps within three and a half or four miles of Richmond." Here again 
Ijeut.-Col. Potter can speak with authority. He says: 

"After advancing all my command to the line of earthworks in front of where Gen. 
Casey's headquarters had recently been, and posting them under command of Capt. Rafferty 
* * * accompanied by Lieut. Latta, of 8th Penna. Cavalry, and some 5 mounted men, 1 
continued to advance cautiously to the front, leaving our cavalrymen in the rear of the 
swamp on the main road until past the swamp and nearly one-half mile in front of the 
earthworks above mentioned. Halting in the edge of the wood looking out on an open field 
for nearly half a mile in extent we could see in the far front of the field some persons 
moving in the skirt of the wood. * * * After joining our squad of cavalry at the rear 
of the swamp I sent Lieut. Latta to report to Gen. Sickles *,* * and then, taking one 
of the cavalry men * * * commenced to repair to the front of the swamp to take 
observance of the open field again * * * and again returned to the front of the swamp, 
and after watching the long field for nearly half an hour without seeing any movement 
whatever, was surprised to hear a bugle sounding the advance, followed by cavalry filing into 
the far front of the field: I speedily returned to the line of earthworks * * *. Soon 
after Gen. Hooker * * * and Gen. Sickles, with the Excelsior Brigade, arrived in 
advance. * * * Gen. Hooker desired me to acmompany him to the front of the swamp 
to point out where the rebel cavalry had been seen. Just as we were returning a party of 
rebel skirmishers who were concealed in the swamp fired upon the general, killing one of the 
horses of his cavalry escort. * * * The regiment (2d Excelsior) was advanced through 
the swamp, the right haUed and posted upon a large field of 'slashing,' in front of which 
passes a road extending from the right of the long field in front of the swamp to the right 
through the timber to the railroad in front of the pickets of Gen. Sumner s command on the 
railroad." 

The "edge of the wood looking out on an open field" referred to by Lieut.-Col. Potter 
was the position occupied by the pickets from the 103d Penna. Regiment on May 31. Gar- 
land's brigade was in full view of the pickets for several hours preceding the battle, on the 
western side of the open field. Lieut.-Col. Potter also gives information as to the position of 
Sumner's pickets on June 2, indicating that they were several hundred yards in rear of 
where Casey's pickets had maintained the line for several days previous to the attack on 
May 31. The extracts from the official reports of the brigade and regimental commanders 
in Sumner's and Heintzelman's corps, who were in the front, on June 1, are published in 
this article as conclusive evidence that, notwithstanding the weakest division of the Army of 
the Potomac was held up before the nation in obloquy, because it was driven from its posi- 
tion by an overwhelming force, yet no attempt was made to retake the position by the five 
other divisions of the army on the right bank of the Chickahominy. This of itself ought 
to have silenced the critics of this division. 

Most historians convey the notion that the failure of the Federals to advance on 
June 1 was the result of the timidity of Gen. McClellan and that his immediate subordinates, 
■such as Gens. Sumner and Heintzelman. were anxious to press forward. The letter Gen. 
Mandil credits Gen. Heintzelman with having written is completely refuted by Gen. Heintzel- 
man himself in his sworn testimony before the joint committee of congress on the conduct 
of the war, an excerpt from which appears on page 159 of this volume. Gen. Sumner 



232 CASEY'S DIVISION 

in his official report makes it very clear that Gen. McClellan had nothing to do with holding 
the army back on Sunday except to express himself satisfied with Gen. Sumner's arrange- 
ments. In his testimony before the congressional committee on the conduct of the war 
(page 182 this volume) he states that Gen. Marcy, Gen. McQellan's chief of staff, had 
sent him word on Sunday afternoon that a very large force was moving down upon him 
from Richmond. This was after the battle had ceased, the enemy, in front of Sumner 
having fled "entirely routed," and no effort made to follow up the rout. Notwithstanding 
the enemy's precipitate flight, Gen. Sumner has left evidence of being in a state bordering 
on trepidation during the night following the battle. At 11 :30 P. M., June 1, he sent 
the following communication to Gen. Marcy: 

''I have good reasons to believe that I shall be attacked early in the morning by 50,000 
men. The bridge on the Chickahominy is so broken by the recent freshets that it cannot 
be repaired at once. I shall do my utmost. The trains from Richmond are running all 
night." (O. R. Ser., Vol. LI, part I, p. 649.) 

To the above Gen. Marcy sent the following reply at 3 A. M., June 2 : "The general 
commanding says in reply to your dispatch that you must do the best you can to hold your 
own if attacked." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 207.) 

At 6:40 P. M., June 1. the following was sent from army headquarters to Gen. 
Sumner : 

"From further information the general commanding is convinced that the dispatch 
sent you by Maj. Hammerstein exaggerates matters. The general does not think it prob- 
able that you will be attacked in the morning, and if you are he thinks it will not be in 
large force, but that you can hold the ground you now occupy. He will communicate with 
you frequently, and he would prefer that you do not fall back tomorrow, even if you are 
not attacked, until you receive orders. I will telegraph to you frequently, giving you all 
the information we receive. The best place for you to send dispatches is to Gen. Heintzel- 
man's headquarters. A. V. Colburn, Assistant Adjutant General." 

The official communications go far to show that both Gens. Sumner and Heintzel- 
man gave evidence of much more timidity than the commanding general of the army. It 
should be remembered that the latter was confined to his bed by illness on May 31. On 
June 1 the following dispatch was sent from army headquarters to Gen. Heintzelman : 

"You will move up your available force to the support of Gen. Keyes. leaving force 
sufficient to guard your left and rear." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 206.) 

At 3 A. M., June 2, he received the following order from headquarters : 

"As Gen. Sumner thinks he may be attacked at daylight, you will please hold your 
command ready to support him if necessary." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 207.) 

The following order was issued from army headquarters at 5 P. M., June 1 : 

"Gen. E. V. Sumner: The general commanding directs that you drive the enemy 
back opposite your front, along the line of the railroad, in order to afford effective support 
to Gen. Heintzelman." O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 206.) 

Gen. Hooker's report, his dispatch to Gen. Heintzelman on June 2, and his testimony 
before the congressional committee (pp. 177-178 — this Vol.) are sufficient evidence to settle 
this matter beyond controversy so far as Gen. Heintzelman is concerned. 

It is hardly within the province of this article to present more than the essential parts 
of the official reports of the commanding officers of the troops engaged north of the rail- 
road. However, as the writer on one of his visits to the scenes referred to in this narra- 
tive had the pleasure and profit of traversing the grounds on which the battle of Seven 
Pines or Fair Oaks was fought in company with Maj. Gen. Brooke, U. S. A., who was 
colonel of the 53d Penna. Regiment, of French's brigade, Richardson's division, Sumner's 
corps, and who was in command of his regiment during the battle, it will not be amiss 
to amplify his official report by information gained at first hand on the grounds on which 
the battle occurred. From notes before the writer, and which he regards as trustworthy, 
he believes a clearer knowledge of part of the action north of the railroad can be gained 
than is given in the official reports, although harmonizing with them. The position of 
French's brigade in line of battle, in front of Fair Oaks Station, about day-break Sunday 
morning, was as follows: The 66th New York on the right, with the 57th New York, 



AT SEVEN PINES 233 

53d Penna. and 52d New York, the position of the respective regiments being as given 
here; the 81st Penna. of Howard's brigade being in prolongation of this line to the left 
of the 52d New York. This line was scarcely formed when it received a heavy fire 
from the enemy at about 50 yards distance. Although the attack was sudden and made 
with great vigor, the fire was returned with deliberation and effectiveness. After firing for 
a time, the enemy charged the position, but was repulsed without causing the line to waver 
at any point. The enemy repeated the charge several times, but with the same result. 
After the battle had progressed for some time and the regiments engaged were nearly out of 
ammunition, Gen. Howard was ordered to relieve French's brigade, the left of which was 
being severely pressed by the enemy, which he did with the 61st and 64th New York Regi- 
ments. It was about this time that Col. Miller of the 81st Penna. was killed. This regi- 
ment was on the extreme left of this line and in front of the right of Birney's line of 
battle, of Kearny's division, of Heintzelman's corps. The onslaught of the enemy on 
the extreme left of Sumner's troops was so severe that the 81st Penna. was cut in two, 
the right wing being separated from the left. It was here that Gen. Nelson A. Miles first 
became a conspicuous figure as a military man. Although only a lieutenant on the staff 
of Gen. Howard, the latter directed him to collect the scattered companies of the 81st 
Regiment, which he did, and he retained command of the right wing of the regiment, hold- 
ing the enemy in check on the right of the railroad during the remainder of the day. 
When Gen. Howard advanced to the relief of French three regiments of the latier's brigade 
retired, but Col. Brooke's ammunition not being exhausted retained his position, when 
Howard led his two regiments through French's line. In a brief time thereafter Gen. 
Howard retired with his right arm shattered, when Col. Brooke suggested that his 
regiment be ordered forward, which was done, and these three regiments, the 61st and 
64th New York and 53d Penna., drove the enemy in haste from the field in their front, 
after which these three regiments moved out by the right flank, and crossing the railroad 
at Fair Oaks Station joined their respective brigades. 

The Nemesis that follows injustice never falters and never sleeps, although at times 
he seems tardy in showing his hand. The general who was most responsible for the 
injustice done to Gen. Casey met writh speedy retribution. He was charged by his superior 
officer only a month later with fleeing from the front of the enemy, with about 15,000 men, 
from the vicinity of Seven Pines, when another battle was imminent and in violation of 
orders and to the jeopardy of the entire army (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part II, p. 50). And 
furthermore these same raw troops, who had been pilloried by the commanding general 
of the army for poltroonery, making them the butt and a byword of the entire army, were 
accorded the post of honor at the most crucial time in the history of that army. These 
same men, only a month and a day after they had been held up before the army and the 
entire nation in derision for fleeing from an overwhelming force of the enemy outnumber- 
ing them three to one, had the privilege of standing in solid line of battle and witnessing that 
same army flee from an inferior force almost as badly disorganized as was the "rawest" 
division of the army on the afternoon of May 31, 1862. For two days these discredited 
troops stood guard between the entire army and a victorious foe, and succeeded in bringing 
off in safety all the wagon trains of this army, and placing them at Harrison's Landing 
two days after the battle of Malvern Hill. For 48 hours without sleep, except as it 
could be snatched by small groups here and there, a few minutes at a time; drenched to 
the skin and chilled to the marrow by the cold drizzling rain, covered with mire to the 
knees, through which they had waded in following the trail of the army; at times so close 
to the enemy that orders were communicated in whispers; this same little group of men 
was the last to take its position with the rest of the army, which it did about midnight 
July 3 1862 Not a word of praise or even credit is given Wessells' brigade, or even Peck's 
division (formerlv Casey's), for this arduous service by the commanding general in his 
report but he awards great credit to Gen. Keyes for his skill and energy in conductmg 
the movement. An attempt has been made to rob Wessells' brigade of even the honor of 
covering the rear on the retreat to Harrison's Landing. Henry E. Smith, Brevet Major, 
U. S. A., in an article in the Century Magazine, August, 1885, says : 



234 CASEY'S DIVISION 

"Referring to the retreat from Malvern Hill. July 2, Gen. McClellan gives Keyes' 
corps the credit of furnishing the entire rear guard. According to the report of Col. 
Averell of the 3d Penna. Cavalry, the rear guard was made his command and consisted 
of his regiment of Heintzelman's corps. First Brigade, consisting of the 3d, 4th, 12th and 
14th Infantry of Porter's corps, and the New York Chasseurs of Keyes' corps. The OfiRcial 
Records, Vol. XI, part II. p. 255, confirms this statement. In the same volume, p. 193, 
will be found Keyes' official report, but no mention of Averell. In fact Averell was the 
rear guard to Turkey Bridge and a mile beyond that point, where he found Gen. Wessells 
of Keyes' corps. The official reports of Fitz John Porter, Sykes and Buchanan all speak 
of Averell as having covered the retreat. The writer was a first lieutenant in the 12th 
Infantry, and in command of Co. D, 1st Battalion, and remembers distinctly that the First 
Brigade of Regulars slept on the field on the night of July 1, in the line of battle. We were 
surprised the next morning to find the entire army had retreated during the night, leaving 
Averell with his small command as a rear guard to cover the retreat, which was done in 
the masterly manner stated by Gen. McQellan, but by Averell, and not by Keyes." 

Maj. Smith discredits his entire claim by this last sentence, in which he says, "We 
[the rear guard] were surprised," etc. At such times rear guards are supposed to be on 
the alert, as was Wessells' brigade from midnight of July 1 until midnight of July 3, in 
continuous line of battle, except when following after the wagon trains. Had Maj. Smith 
turned to page 220, of the same volume (XI — part II), of the Official Records from which 
he quoted he would have seen that Gen. Wessells gave Col. Averell due credit, as follows : 

"The march of the several corps of the army, with their artillery and wagon trains, 
was commenced during the night, and all passed the point occupied by this brigade about 10 
o'clock on the morning of July 2, the rear being handsomely covered thus far by Averell's 
cavalry and Buchanan's brigade of regular troops. Averell's command then moved forward, 
my own brigade shortly following, and the 85th New York Volunteeers was detailed as a 
rear guard for the wagons." 

Had the major then read the conclusion of Col. Averell's report he would have found 
that Col. Averell gave Casey's old division credit for taking care of the rear. He says : 

"As soon as the artillery and infantry were well upon the road, I directed my cavalry 
* * * to withdraw * * * The march was continued without incident until the rear crossed 
Turkey Island Bridge, which was destroyed. A mile farther on I found Brig. Gen. Wessells 
in excellent position with his brigade and a mile farther on Brig. Gen.Naglee with a second 
line. Considering our rear perfectly secure, I passed through their lines imth my wearied' 
forces and came to this camp." 

Maj. Gen. Silas Casey. 

It is fitting that this article should close with a brief sketch of the most conspicuous 
figure on the Federal side in the battle of Seven Pines, a soldier who was not "raw" and 
inexperienced, but one who had grown grey in the military service of his country. As 
one studies the battle of Seven Pines and the central figures in the severest part of the 
conflict, he cannot fail to be impressed with one admirable trait of two of them. Brig. Gen. 
H. W. Wessells and Maj. Gen. Silas Casey. The former having been with the "raw" division 
only a few days, sitting quietly on his horse near the redoubt for three hours giving direc- 
tions without showing any evidence of excitement, painfully wounded with his horse killed 
under him and not retiring until near sunset, and yet with all the calumny heaped on his 
command, there is no record that he ever uttered a word of protest. As a sketch of his 
career appears elsewhere in this volume, those who desire can refer to it. But with Gen. 
Casey the position and conditions were somewhat diflFerent. Notwithstanding the calum- 
niators of Casey's division were constantly holding it up in derision because they were the 
"rawest" troops of the army, they seemed to take delight in attributing the rawness to the 
commanding general of the division, as though troops could be drilled and brought into a 
state of discipline and efficiency in a day. Under such conditions many an officer would 
have been satisfied to put the blame on the raw troops, something after the manner of 
Gen. Palmer, and call attention to the defects of the others. But from the very first Gen. 
Casey maintained that his troops, with rare exceptions, had done heroic work, and any 
report to the contrary did them great injustice. At no time did he make any attempt to 
exculpate himself from blame at the expense of his "raw" troops. 

Although brevetted brigadier general of the Regular army, and major general of 
volunteers for meritorious conduct at the battle of Fair Oaks to date from May 81, 1862, 



AT SEVEN PINES 



235 



this honor was not spontaneously conferred. The following letter will give an insight into 
the humiliation he experienced through the injustice of his superior officers: 

r~, r- I Tr Washington, August 25, 1862. 

Uear (jeneral : You will probably remember that while I was at Poplar Ridge you 
informed me that you had recommended me for a brevet. Inasmuch as it has not come 
to the knowledge of the President, you would confer a great favor by informing me what 
<^'sP°sition you made of the recommendation, and by enclosing me a copy. It is a sad 
thought to me. General, that my brothers in arms are unwilling to do me that justice which 
the enemy are constantly making known. I have felt gratified that vou have been dis- 
P°sed to do justice in your report. Of all the generals that have commanded divisions in 
the Army of the Potomac, I have been made an exception. I am resting under severe 
mjustice. If you can say anything to the president in my favor respecting this matter and 
will enclose it to me, it shall be remembered. They may have killed me but I am not 
buried yet. I find that I have friends left. I have been placed on the duty of receiving 
and reorganizing new troops and am busily employed. 
Maj. Gen. E. D. Keyes. Believe me, truly yours, 

(Signed) Silas Casey, Brig. Gen. Bt. 

Yorktown or Ft. Monroe, Va. (50 years Observation of Men & Events, by E D 
Keyes, Bv't Brig. Gen. U. S. A., page 460). 

Gen. Casey entered West Point Academy in 1822, before he was 15 years of age, 
graduating therefrom in 1826. In the Mexican War he was brevetted major for gallant 
conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco. At the storming of Chepultepec he 
was selected to lead a picked body of 250 volunteers from the Second Division of Regulars. 
While leading this battalion through a galling fire he was severely wounded in the abdomen 
when they had almost reached the batteries of the enemy. For this gallant exploit he was 
brevetted lieutenant colonel to date from Sept. 13. 1847, and he received the thanks of his 
■native State (Rhode Island) by a vote of the legislature. From the close of the Mexican 
War until the outbreak of the Civil War he was engaged on the frontier and on recruiting 
service the greater part of the time, commanding the Puget sound district, Washington 
territory, from 1856 till 1857. He was made brigadier general of volunteers Aug. 31. 1861, 
and charged with organizing and disciplining the volunteers in and about the capital He 
was assigned to command the 3d Division of the Fourth Corps at its organization about 
the middle of March, 1862, two or three weeks before its departure for the Peninsula 
March 31. 

On June 23, 1862, Gen. McClellan removed Gen. Casey from the command of the 
division he had commanded at the battle of Fair Oaks and assigned him to "that important 
depot," the Whitehouse, "including the protection of the railway and telegraphic communi- 
cation and the Army of the Potomac." By the retreat of the army from this base of 
supplies this command vanished. Gen. Casey reported to the headquarters of the Army 
of the Potomac at Harrison's Landing on July 3 and was ordered to report to Gen. F. J. 
Porter for assignment to McCall's division, but Porter had no vacancy for him, and on 
July 4 Gen. McClellan relieved him from duty with the Army of the Potomac and ordered 
him to report to the Adjutant General of the Army. 

The same day the following communication was sent to Brig. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, 
Adjutant General U. S. A., which was evidently dictated by Gen. McClellan, but signed by 
S. Williams. Assistant Adjutant General: 

"Gen. Casey has reported here to me from the Whitehouse. I have no command 
which can be given him with a beneficial result to the public service. I have great respect 
for the military information and character of Gen. Casey, but his health and years do not 
fit him for active command of troops serving under the circumstances under which this 
army has now to make its way. I have therefore been compelled, reluctantlv, to order him 
to repair to Washington." (O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, p. 298.) 

Gen. Casey was bom at East Greenwich, R. I., July 12, 1807, and died in Brooklyn 
Jan. 22, 1882. He voluntarily retired from active service in the army July 8, 1868, after 
42 years of continuous service. Early in the war the Government adopted for the use of 
the army his infantry tactics. 

In concluding this article the writer can think of no more appropriate words with 



236 CASEY'S DIVISION 

which to end it than the final paragraphs of the official report of the battle of Fair Oaks 
of the commanding general of the division, who witnessed the action of his troops from 
the time they were first attacked until they were completely routed. 

"If a portion of the division did not behave so well as could have been wished, it 
must be remembered to what a terrible ordeal they were subjected. Still, those that 
behaved discreditably were exceptional cases. It is true that the division after being nearly 
surrounded by the enemy and losing one-third of the number actually engaged, retreated 
to the second line. They would all have been prisoners of war had they delayed their 
retreat a few minutes longer. 

"In my humble opinion, from what I witnessed on the 31st, I am convinced that 
the stubborn and desperate resistance of my division saved the army on the right bank of 
the Chickahominy from a severe repulse, which might have resulted in a disastrous defeat. 
The blood of the gallant dead would cry to me from the ground on which they fell Ughting 
for their country had I not said what I have to vindicate them from the unmerited aspersion 
which has been cast upon them." 

COMMENTS ON CASEY'S DIVISION. 
FIRST NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 

Correspondence New York Tribune, June 5, 1862, written by the chief correspondent^ 
Samuel Wilkeson, who was acting aide on General Heintzelman's staff: 
From New York Tribune, June 5, 1862 : 

Savage Station, May 31, 1862. 

"At 1 o'clock this afternoon a musketry fire in front of the left wing and upon 
Casey's division, told us that the enemy had commenced the fight, which policy and neces- 
sity suspended on our part. The storm of last night was the most furious fall of rain 
and explosion of lightning I ever saw. Not a regiment, not a company, scarcely an officer, 
was exempt from the chilling and exhausting effects. The rebels seized upon it is an 
element of military advantage, and, having fully prepared themselves, fell suddenly on our 
pickets, scattered them inwards, and held Casey's regiments in actual battle while their 
pots and kettles were yet on the fire, and many of the men were drying their wet clothes. 
I cannot tell in the confusion, which now reigns supreme, how the small earthwork and 
the rifle-pit at the front were so quickly taken out of our possession. The number and 
the quality of the guns in the fort I am ignorant of. But pits, fort and guns, whether 
seige or field, changed owners suddenly. Now I face the first truth in the history of the 
Union disgrace at the Seven Pines, and I shall not dodge it. The important place of 
danger, tJie front, was committed to a General whose division, composed of raw troops, 
marched down Fourteenth street, in Washington, in the last week of February, 13,000 
strong, and has been so neglected and so allowed to go undisciplined, that 7,000 of them 
could not by any possibility have been gathered together this morning — a division so left 
to itself, to luck' and the devil, that it has lost, literally lost, 700 men and upward since it 
left Williamsburg, a division whose commander has long been conspicuous as searching- 
miles ahead of his marcliing columns for comfortable quarters. Upon this division, out 
of place in the front, the shock of battle fell — and knocked it into disorder and ruin faster 
than I conceived it possible for Anglo-Saxon troops to be moved by any power less than 
God's thunderbolts. Oh ! how much I have learned today, and how much I have unlearned. 

"Gen. Peck's military family were at their rice and cofifee in the open air at a quarter 
before 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The unmistakable rattle of musketry fired by companies 
and by columns in front brought the graduate of every battle-field in Mexico right to his 
feet. He marched instantly and ordered his brigade under arms. * * * Before 3 o'clock 
Gen. Keyes found Casey's entire division was gone ! He sent to Heintzelman for instant 
help. The brave Pennsylvanian was already on his way to the place where he was wanted. 
He came on the ground about a quarter after three, and, gathering as rapidly as he could 
all the elements of the situation in the strange woods and unknown swamps, took com- 
mand and infused his indomitable spirit into the failing fight. He sent back for Kearny 
and Jameson and Birney and Berry— he who so timely brought salvation upon his bayonet 
points to us at Williamsburg. While they were coming up I went ahead once more to see 
the 55th go into fire. Their movement in response to the order 'Forward !' was not im- 
pulsive from front to rear. It hitched in sections, like the drawing out of the joints of a 
field glass. Omen of evil! In thirty minutes red-capped and red-trousered men, mostly 
without their muskets, were under the fire of the scorn and the jeering of the New York 
fi2d— a fire more galling and unsupportable, as it seemed to me, than any that ever spouted 
from muskets. 'Mounsheer, the muss is the other way! Hello, lobsters! We are Union 
men, we ain't Rebels. What are vou running at us for? The 62d is good shelter, fall 



AT SEVEN PINES 237 

in behind.' Not a wrathful reply was made. The bursting of the rebel shells overhead, the 
screaming of their solid long shot, and the cutting off of the tree tops, made the place 
and the time totally unsuited for repartee or discussion. The 62d opened its laughing ranks 
and the gory colored but unbloody passed through and passed on. * * * The firing at 
this point at about 5 o'clock was a marvel to me. I can compare this to nothing but the 
roar of Niagara. It had no space, no cracks. It was solid, continuous, deafening. Over it 
the incessant bursting of shells and screaming of solid conical shot ribbed the rocket 
-with great seams of noise, which compelled men touching each other in opposite saddles 
to shout when they talked. The straggling set in briskly from before this fire. Superhuman 
efforts, headed by Heintzelman and aided by his surgeon, Milhan, and Col. Adams and 
others, stopped a full regiment for a while, and rallied them around their colors, but could 
not long hold them against the storm of whistling bullets and case shot. The crowd rolled 
off the field, carrying away some who meant to stay. To my dying day I shall have in 
my ears the wailing shriek of a private of the 1st Long Island, shot dead beside my horse 
-with a percussion musket ball, whose explosion within its wound I distinctly heard, and 
which must have overwhelmed him morally more than it did physically. Not running, nor 
terrified— only unwilling to stay— this crowd straggled partly in the road, mostly in the 
-woods, back, back, to the line of the rifle pits Couch had made a week ago. On the way 
Hooker's brigade was met, and met with the hurrahs of applause due to brave men. Dark- 
ness left Sedgwick on the railroad, master of the ground occupied in the afternoon by the 
rebel forces, and from which he had gallantly driven them. Our extreme right is beyond 
the advance of vesterday. We are probably behind the morning position of our center 
three-quarters of' a mile,' and a full mile behind our morning's position on the left. The 
loss of property and material is awful, embracing eight guns and the contents of at least 
four camps. The loss in killed, wounded and missing is more awful." 

New York Tribune, Tune 10, 1862. by same correspondent : 

June 4, 1862. 

"Casey was at his dinner table when his pickets came flying in from the woods in 
front. The resistance made by them to the skirmishes as they came on the leap through 
the timber was so ineffective that Longstreet was in force upon Casey's command at a blow. 
Gen. Bailey's artillery met them, as they ran down the road, with grape and shot, making 
gaping wounds in their columns, but not staying their attack. Out of the woods to the left 
of the road, out of the woods to the right of the road, and beyond it, the rebels swarmed 
like bees, rushed courageously upon Casey's hastily formed regiments, firing as they ad- 
vanced, and bringing with them the morale of a fierce thirst for the battle and an assurance 
of victory. 

"Conflicting statements are made of the behavior of the troops of Casey's division. 
The corpses of hundreds and hundreds of them lie upon the ground, but impressive 
witnesses of the courage that can die if it cannot resist unequal numbers. On the other 
hand, the early and almost immediately set-in of the drift of skulking and straggling from 
Casey's regiments is a fact which cannot be denied, and which cannot be made to consist 
with discipline and soldierly spirit. The witnesses to this early and formidable and dis- 
graceful flood to the rear of unwounded men are thousands and thousands in num- 
bers. * * * 

"At 4 o'clock in the afternoon I saw Gen. Casey riding about on the field without a 
command. I buried a nephew yesterday, an acting captain in the New York 100th, whose 
body I recovered way in front of the bastioned fort, beyond Casey's headquarters, where 
I hear a rumor that his regiment made a charge to repel the attack that first burst upon 
the division in front of that work. He was shot in the breast and lay in advance of all 
the dead upon the field. I feel perfectly willing to accept the solution of the disappearance 
of his regiment, that it was overwhelmed by the fire of two or three rebel regiments and 
blown right off the field, as was the case, say, with all the regiments in Casey's division. 
But I will interrupt the narrative of this great battle to say that if the same care had 
been taken of the regiments in this division which had been taken of the regiments in 
Couch's division and Berry's brigade, if the same care had been taken to form them 
into soldiers which John Cochrane gave to making the Chasseurs a perfectly organized 
fighting machine, and Col. Poe gave to making the 2d Michigan as deliberate and man- 
ageable in battle as they are on parade, the field of the Seven Pines would have been 
as deadly to the rebels as honorable to us. * * * But the theme is not a grateful one, 
and my personal interest is full of pain. 

"Now, after a long pause in the writing of this letter and a careful collection of 
the facts of the case at the distance from the scene of action at which I am placed, care- 
fully collected so as to correct any errors of judgment I may have formed in the heat 
of battle, I am clearly cf the opinion that the suddenness with which Casey's division dis- 
appeared will be accounted for by proofs that at least ten or twelve thousand of the 
enemy, bursting out of the woods, swept the uniformed and scarrcely formed regiments 
with a whirlwind ef fire and steel, right off their feet, ran around the intrenchments, and 



238 CASEY'S DIVISION 

occupied them in an instant — killing the artillery horses as they went and seizing the bat- 
teries, and in twenty minutes taking full possession of the advanced position of the Union 
army. But I am so clearly of opinion that distant picketing, and thorough picketing, would, 
have averted the disaster, and, that neglected, that thorough discipline would have made 
a protracted fight of what was a sudden rout, and would have held at bay the rebel 
avalanche until Couch or Hooker could come up with re-enforcements. * * * 

"The sun went down upon the enemy in full possession of our camps for a mile 
back of the position. Two days passed before the gallant Hooker^ with his Sickles' brigade 
and the New Jersey troops had recovered this lost ground. * * * Heintselman on Fri- 
day told McClellan that he did not consider Casey's position a safe one, and asked to be 
permitted to move up Kearny's division. He was told to act upon his own judgment, and 
Berry's troops were ordered forward within reach, on the very short call allowed us, 
when the front was so suddenly overwhelmed. Their proximity saved us." 

In the issue of the Tribune of June 2 and dated Seven Pines, May 29, 1862, the 

same correspondent wrote : 

"But to the situation right under my eye. No one knows the future, and its is not 
my habit to appoint a distant day for telling the truth. The left wing of this army only 
is across the Chickahominy. It is running wedge shaped into the enemy's country, and 
up to the fortifications of Richmond. It is doing all the dangerous and exhausting duty 
of picketing. Since the battle of Williamsburg, Keyes, Couch, Peck, Casey and Devens 
have had imposed upon them the labor of driving the enemy over the Chickahominy, of 
bridging the swampy stream, of sweeping the rebels through the unmapped and unknown 
woods, this side of the Chickahominy, of feeling and fighting their way by day — of fight- 
ing and watching their ground by night— till they stand now like a promonitory pros- 
pecting into the sea. Opposing forces surround them and will dash on them, but in vain, 
but in vain. The genius, caution, . courage, experience and tenacity of Couch, Peck and 
their associates in command will hold securely the advance which they have won thus 
far for the whole army with the musket and the ax and the shovel. That will be a 
false history of this war in Virginia which omits the labor and dangers undergone with- 
out murmuring by the left wing — and unshared as well as undergone." 

From Cincinnati Commercial, by W. D. B. : 

"It is uniformly stated that he had posted but one line of pickets without the cus- 
tomary supports. I cannot ascertain definitely if that was true. Between 12 and 1 o'clock 
the pickets were driven in quietly, but the camp failed to take the alarm, and the enemy 
rushed in upon the heels of the guard. Casey's troops, taken completely by surprise, were 
thrown into utter confusion. Both he and his field staff exerted themselves bravely to form 
a line of resistance, but in vain. A few men would rally to a center but terrified at the fu- 
rious yells and terrific volleys of the swiftly advancing enemy they would break as soon as 
formed, and fly frantically over the field. 'The whole division was soon flying before the 
remorseless enemv like frightened sheep. Scores of them were slaughtered and captured. 
Some dashed into the forests instinctively seeking cover. The scene beggared description 
and there was no hope that the shameful tide would be stayed. Many were struck down 
by bullets, others exhausted by sinking into swamps or stupefied by terror, fell an easy prey 
to their eager pursuers. It was a pitiful spectacle. But there is palliation for their shame- 
ful conduct. They were the greenest troops in the army, commanded by a superannuated 
general, and too many of their field and line officers exhibited gross cowardice." 

CRITICISMS OF CASEY'S DIVISION IN HISTORIES OF THE BATTLE OF FAIR 

OAKS. 

From "The Great Rebellion," by J. T. Headley : 

"It was now about noon, and when the alarm was given, preparations for dinner 
were going on in the various camps. Instantly everything was in commotion, and four 
regiments and four pieces of artillery were sent forward a quarter of a mile to meet 
the advancing enemy. Casey soon discovered, however, that it was putting up a straw 
to stop the hurricane. * * * 

"The enemy * * * came boldly down like an onsweeping wave determined to 
crush all obstacles bv the suddenness and weight of the onset. Some of the regiments 
and portions of regiments bore up gallantly, hour after hour, against the overwhelming 
force; and our artillei-y in front, especially Regan's, with canister and grape,, and in the 
rear with shells, sent devastation through the crowded ranks. * * * Casey s line ot 
battle was soon broken, some of the regiments fleeing in the wildest panic and never stop- 
ping till they reached the Chickahominy, nor even then. His second line was lormed 
behind his redoubts, but this, too, after a short, vain struggle, also yielded, and many 
of our guns fell into their hands, in endeavoring to save which. Col. Bailey was killed. 



AT SEVEN PINES 239 

Regan's battery, which did fearful execution, was saved by a charge of bayonet. The 
camp was swept with such fury that nothing was saved. The panic-stricken soldiers 
thought only of themselves, and, lost alike to patriotism and honor, came pouring down 
the muddy stage road like a herd of frightened cattle. 

"Gen. Peck, with his military family, was quietly seated in the open air, taking his 
coffee and rice, when the regular and sustained volleys in front suddenly brought all to 
their feet and to the saddle. The long roll was beaten, hurried orders were dispatched 
to put the brigade under arms, and a few minutes from the time his noonday lunch was 
interrupted, Peck was spurring toward the scene of action. He had not gone far, how- 
ever, before he met the great straggling flow of the fugitives, filling up the entire road in 
their disorderly flight. The cowardly crew, when they saw the officers barricading the 
road, began to limp, and hide their hands in their bosoms, to make believe they were 
wounded — their ridiculous contortions and the shamed expression of their faces all the 
while exposing the disgraceful deception they were attempting to practice. The officers 
dashed among them, cursing them fiercely to their faces as poltroons. But still the flow 
kept deepening, while great stalwart men, with muskets in their hands, simulated sick- 
ness and gave lying excuses to each stern demand what they meant by this shameful 
cowardice ; and limped by, presenting at once a sickening and maddening spectacle. Cov- 
ered with mud, showing that they had thrown themselves on the ground in terror, to 
escape the shot and shells that screamed through the air, they presented a sad specimen 
of freemen fighting for the national flag. A guard was finally stretched across the road 
to arrest this steadily increasing stream of cowards, and drive them back to their duty. 
But it was all in vain — they heard the steady roar of guns, sounding mornentarily nearer, 
and impelled onward by fear, they turned off into the fields and neighboring woods — still 
fleeing towards the Chickahominy. It was an amazing spectacle. 

"It was soon evident that Casey's division was gone, shattered into irrecoverable 
fragments; and Keyes hurried off his staff officers to Heintzelman for help. But the old 
hero was already on the march — his practiced ear had told him by the tremendous volleys 
that shook the field, that an overwhelming force was moving down upon our positions. 
As soon as he heard the astounding news of the utter rout of Casey's division, he sent 
back for Kearny's and Birney's brigades, and the chivalric Berry's, whose bayonets he 
had greeted with a shout when so hard beset at Williamsburg. Brave troops were soon 
on the march ; but what would be the effect on them of this wild panic-stricken horde, 
their own iron-hearted leaders trembled to contemplate. The oSth New York was ordered 
to march forward into the fight, but instead of advancing with firm and confident front, 
it moved spasmodically, its hitches and starts showing beforehand where it would be 
when the hurricane of fire should smite them. 

"But there were other sights, cheering to the hearts of the brave. Just then the 62d 
came up with an easy tread, and gay and confident bearing, and as they saw the shirking, 
timorous regiment ahead, instead of catching the fear, poured a torrent of scorn upon 
them, and though the great conical shot were shrieking overhead and shells bursting on 
every side, haughtily exclaimed, 'Fall in behind the Sixty-second is good shelter,' and 
moved steadily forward into the rain of death. Officers, with their arms in a sling, arose 
from their sick beads to lead their troops to the charge ; soldiers with mutilated fingers 
left their ranks only long enough to get their wounds dressed, and hurried back into 
the fight. It was passing strange, that men of the same blood, and fighting under the 
same flag, should differ so widely in bearing. But this shameful rout was to be stopped 
at the point of the bayonet by true men. 

"It was now nearly four o'clock, and ever since half-past one, the rebels had had 
it all their own way. Couch and Peck, finding the enemy moving down in heavy masses 
towards Fair Oaks, on our right, crossed the field at right angles to the road, and meeting 
them in the woods, held them fiercely at bay till, overwhelmed by superior numbers, they 
were compelled to fall back. Peck's horse, while dashing through the fire, received a ball 
through the neck — the next instant another pierced his flank. Still unhurt, this gallant 
commander was spurring on, when a cannon ball took off both of the hind legs of his 
steed, and he sank to the ground. Mounting another, he cheered on 4;he troops by his 
dauntless bearing. 

"In the meanwhile, Kearny, of Heintzelman's division, led his regiments forward, 
who, as they met the broken battalions of Casey's division, sent up a loud hurrah of de- 
fiance and breasting fiercely the human torrent, divided it, as the strong ship parts the 
waves. 'This is not the way to Richmond!' shouted the fearless Kearny to the fright- 
ened fugitives, but he spoke in vain, and he saw that he must look to his own brave 
men to save the day, not to them. Berry led forward his glorious Michigan men to sure 
victory. A ball, carrying away his cap, he rode at the head of his column bareheaded. * * 
*_ Above the sulphurous canopy that curtained in the hosts, "an immense balloon hung 
high in heaven, with telegraph wires dropping from it to McClellan's headquarters, re- 
porting every movement of the enemy, and reminding one of the fabled gods of old, 
looking down on the conflict. * * * 



240 CASEY'S DIVISION 

"Meagher's gallant brigade was then brought up to relieve the hard-pressed regi- 
ments. Advancing with their well-known war shout, they closed with fearful ferocity 
on the foe, and for an hour mowed them down, almost by companies. * * * About 
noon McClellan rode on the field with his staff, and as he swept along the lines, the en- 
thusiasm of the troops was raised to the highest pitch, and the deafening cheers rolled 
like thunder over the field. Spurring on in search of Heintzelman, he found the tired 
hero dismounted and sitting on the ground under a tree. Handing his horse to his 
orderly, he seated himself beside him and questioned him rapidly of the state of things. 
Other generals soon joined them, forming a brilliant group there on the edge of battle. 
The reports were all alike, the enemy were falling back m every part of the field. All 
our lost ground was at length won. * * * 

"McClellan's dispatch to the government, announcing the victory, awarded un- 
bounded praise to his troops with the exception of Casey's division, of which he spoke 
in severe terms. More accurate information obtained afterwards caused him to modify 
his charges against it somewhat ; still he evidently felt that its behavior was disgraceful 
and well nigh caused his ruin. The gallant conduct of some of the regiments and por- 
tions of regiments, by which the enemy was held in check for a long time, could not shield 
the division from condemnation. The efforts afterwards made to defend its conduct 
were only partially successful. Even Casey's and Naglee's dispatches saved the reputa- 
tion only of individual regiments." 

From letters of Gen. Kearny, published in "Personal History of Philip Kearny," by 
John Watts de Peyster : 

"As the battle came off quite unexpectedly yesterday, I hasten to send yon a line, 
knowing how anxious you will be, and to say I thank God that the great risks (for it was 
again a crisis of saving a runaway people) I ran have not resulted in even a light wound. 
I was visiting some friends the other side of the Chickahominy, some five or six miles 
off, when a rattle of musketry was heard, and I instantly felt that I was concerned in it. 
So, mounting, I galloped back, and was just in time to lead my men some miles to the 
front to save a huge corps that had run like good fellows at the first attack. This time 
it was an old acquaintance in Mexico, Gen. Case}', whose men gave way most shamefully, 
filling the roads from the battle-field to our camp, three and a half miles, and ran away 
worse than at Bull Run. I am used to many strange sights, but when I saw before the 
race of the fugitives a whole line of wagons going full tilt, I thought that many a pretty 
bold man might well have his senses turned. Then came a stream of fugitives, and finally 
they poured in in masses. 

"My superior (Heintzelman) had previously ordered me to leave a brigade in 
the rear. He then first sent to me to send away one brigade by the railroad ; quite away 
from my control, and then a brigade up to the battle-field. I accompanied this, ordered 
■up, at my own responsibility, my absent brigade (Jameson's), and pushed on at a fearful 
pace. I got under fire, as usual, and was sent to charge, while thousands of those I came 
to help were left quietly to be passed by by me, and crouch down in the rifle-pits and 
fortifications. We put right in and I drove back the enemy ; but McClellan's injustice 
has changed my men. They followed nie, after a fashion, but were cold and slow ; still, I 
won everything. When the enemy got behind us, and the troops in the rear ran like 
sheep, I flew to them, hurrahed at them, waved my cap, and turning them, led them into 
the fight again. I had hardly done this when another large party of the enemy stole in 
behind my brigade and I was nearly cut off from my own men ; but rushing to a wood 
near by I made a stand. However, I looked back at my recent borrowed followers, and 
found them and all ihe others — some seven or eight thousand of that line (Keyes' Corps) 
— running like good fellows, and masses of the enemy regularly, but surely, rapidly and 
sternly pursuing them, keeping the only reported roads of retreat. Thinks I to myself, 
I am cut off, me and mine. 

"Most fortunately, I had that very morning examined, with a fine guide, all that 
secret, locked-up country of forests and swamps. I saw that they hoped to cut me off 
from retreat by getting between me and White Oak Swamp. By this time a regiment of 
mine, attracted by the firing in their rear, came along in the woods. I charged the enemy 
tn rear, and would have gained the day but for continuous reinforcements. But i fought 
them long enough to enable all my intercepted regiments to retire by a secret road through 
the swamps ; got back to my position — a very strong one.from which I should not have 
been taken — before the enemy arrived there, and again offered the sole barrier, when all 
else was confusion. 

"Still, this was not victory. It was the first time that I had not slept on the battle- 
field, and but fnr the ynismanagemeyit as to our battle at IVilliamsburg, I wou'd have been 
victorious here, too. Still, it is most infecting to be sent for to restore a fight and see 
hordes of others, panic-stricken, disobedient, craven and downcast. Anywhere it is a dis- 
agreeable sight to see the wounded being carried off the field of battle, even from a vic- 
torious one." 



AT SEVEN PINES 241 

From "The Civil War in America," by the Count of Paris (serving on the staff of 
Gen. McQellan), published in 1876: 

"Finally, about noon, Longstreet, who had been waiting for him up to that moment, 
gave Hill the order to attack. Without sending any skirmishers ahead, that they might 
take the enemy more completely by surprise, the Confederates advanced, some in line across 
the woods, others in deep columns along the road, sweeping before them Casey's pickets, 
together with a regiment [103d Penna.] which had been sent to reinforce them. 

"The foremost works of the Federals, which were as yet unfinished, being simply 
abatis or breastworks, whose profiles could afford no protection to soldiers, were occupied 
by Naglee's brigade. The latter made a vigorous resistance, while the division artillery, 
under Col. Bailey, an old regular officer, caused great havoc in the ranks of the assailants. 
* * * Casey's two other brigades had hastened to the assistance of Naglee, and despite 
heavy losses they held out against the Confederates, whose numbers were constantly increas- 
ing. * * * Xhe Federal works were attacked in the rear, and their defenders decimated 
by enfilading fire. These young soldiers, who had hitherto been sustained by the excite- 
ment which springs from danger and the very exhaustion of a fierce struggle, no longer 
possessed the requisite coolness to resist this unexpected attack. They were driven back 
in disorder upon Seven Pines. Besides the number alone of their adversaries would have 
been sufficient to crush them. Some few, however, persisted in defending the redoubts, but 
soon disappeared among the ranks of Hill's troops, who, having returned to the charge, 
hemmed them in on every side. Bailey was killed by the side of the guns he had just 
spiked, and seven pieces fell into the hands of the assailants. It was three o'clock. Pre- 
cisely at this moment Peck's brigade of Couch's division was arriving from Seven Pines, led 
by Keyes, who had been informed somewhat late of the serious character of the fight. The 
Lafayette Guards, which formed part of this brigade, having deployed into line among the 
debris of Casey's division, allowed the fugitives to pass without moving, then rallying around 
them this floating mass, * * ♦ they made a vigorous aggressive movement. Despite 
their efforts, they could recapture neither the redoubts nor the lost cannon ; but the enemy 
•was checked, the remainder of Casey's artillery saved, and the Federals had time to rally. 
Regiments after regiments were sent to sustain the fight; for if the Federals were losing 
ground, Ihey now contested it foot by foot. On the right Couch commanded at Fair Oaks 
in person, where, with the rest of his division, he held in check the left wing of Longstreet, 
v/hose main efforts were still concentrated upon the position of Seven Pines. The struggle 
lasted four hours, and yet, strange to say, only two divisions had taken part in it on either 
side. * * * In short, the two generals-in-chief were both unconscious of the battle in 
which their respective soldiers were engaged. McClellan, who was sick at his headquarters 
near Gaines' Mill, had heard nothing from Heintzelman, to whom the command of the 
entire left was entrusted. The telegraph which connected the various sections of the 
army was silent. Heintzelman himself, although posted at Savage Station, only a few 
kilometers from Seven Pines, had only heard of the enemy's attack several hours after the 
first musket-shot was fired. * * * The combat of the 1st of June, in which but a few 
thousand men were engaged on either side, had notwithstanding the proportions of a great 
battle. * * * Before noon the Federal outposts took possession without a blow of the 
works whose capture had cost so dear to the Confederate army and suffered it to disappear 
among the dense woods without molestation. This brilliant army, which had gone out the 
day before almost in triumph for the purpose of delivering Richmond from the grasp of 
the invader, returned to its cantonments on that same evening, with only four flags, ten 
cannon and 1,200 prisoners, more as evidence of its valor than as a token of success." 

From the "Army of the Potomac, etc.," by the Prince de Joinville, a staff officer of 
Gen. McQellan's (translated by Wm. Henry Hurlbert) (1862), published under the nom 
de plume of A. Trognon : 

"Suddenly, about 1 P. ML, the weather being grey and dull, we heard a very lively 
fire of musketry. The pickets and the advance were violently driven in. * * * The 
redoubt at Seven Pines was surrounded, and its defenders fell valiantly. Here, among 
others, Col. Bailey of the artillery met a glorious death among his guns. The redoubt was 
carried, and the Northern troops fell into some confusion. In vain did Gens. Keyes and 
Naglee make a thousand efforts to rally their troops; they were wholly disregarded. At 
this moment they perceived a .small battalion of French troops, known as the Gardes Lafav- 
ette, standing in good order. The generals rode up to it, put themselves at its head, charged 
the enemy, and retook a battery. * * * Meanwhile Heintzelman advanced to the rescue 
with his two divisions. 

"As at Williamsburg, so here, Kearny came up at the right moment to restore the 
battle. * * * Nearly a mile of ground had been lost, fifteen guns, and the "divisional 
camp of Casey, in the advance. But now the troops begin to stand firm. A sort of line 
of battle was formed across the woods, perpendicularly to the railway and to the road, and 
there the repeated assaults of the enemy are met The left cannot be turned * * ♦' but 



242 CASEY'S DIVISION 

the right might be surrounded. At this very moment, indeed a strong Confederate column 
is moving in that direction. If it succeed in getting between Bottom Bridge and the 
Federal troops who are fighting at Savage Station, the whole left wing is lost. It will have 
no retreat left, and must be overwhelmed. But exactly at this moment (six o'clock P. M) 
new actors come upon the stage. Sumner, who has at last passed the river * * * sud- 
denly appears. * * * 

"When night falls, it was the Federals who, bayonet in hand * * * charged 
furiously upon the foe, and drove him * * * as far as Fair Oaks station. Night put an 
end to the conflict. * * * It was not till one in the afternoon that the battle began. 
Sometime had been lost under the impression that the attack on the right bank might be 
a feint to draw over the Federal troops while the main body of Confederates was pre- 
paring to debouch upon the left bank. An end was soon put to all doubts on the subject 
by the vehemence of the attack." 

From "Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States," by Benson J. Lossing: 

"Wessell's brigade was in the rifle pits, and Palmer's brigade was behind as a reserve. 
Naglee with great persistence kept the Confederates in check for some time by most gallant 
fighting, and then fell back to the remainder of the division in the rifle pits, which had 
been strengthened by the 93d Penna. The Confederates soon gained a position on Casey's 
fianks. Perceiving the peril of his artillery, that ofiBcer ordered a bayonet charge to save 
it. This was gallantly performed by the 100th New York, 104th Penna. and the 11th Maine, 
under the immediate direction of Gen. Naglee. * * * Early in the action Gen. Keyes 
had sent to Heintzelman for aid, but because of some unaccountable delay it did not arrive 
until it was almost too late. Seeing Casey's peril, he ordered forward several of Couch's 
regiments to his relief. Of these (the o5th New York and 23d, 61st and 93d Penna.) the 
tempest of battle fell most destructively. These were followed by the 7th Massachusetts 
and 62d New York, but all were pressed back to Fair Oaks station. * * *" 

From "The Peninsula-McCIellan's Campaign of 1862," by Gen. Alex. S. Webb, LL. D. : 

"The pickets reinforced by the 103rd Regiment, Pa., soon broke and joined by a large 
number of sick camp followers' and skulkers, flowed in a steady stream to the rear, thus 
giving the impression that Casey's division had broken in a panic and left the field without 
making any firm or prolonged resistance. * * * The examination in detail of the re- 
ports of the brigade commanders will show the facts." 

From "The Peninsular Campaign" by William Swinton: 

"The pickets were quickly driven in, and the more so that a regiment [103d Pa.] 
sent forward to support the picket line gave way without making much if any resistance. 
The first blow fell upon Naglee's brigade, which held a position in advance of the redoubt, 
where it made a good fight and held the enemy in check for a considerable time, and then 
retired and fought with the rest of the division in the redoubt and rifle pits." 

From "The American Conflict" by Horace Greeley: 

"Meantime, the remaining division (Casey's) of Keyes' Corps was advanced to and 
encamped about the station known as Fair Oaks, on the Richmond and York River Railroad, 
to the right and rather in advance of Couch's position. * * * Casey's division was sur- 
prised as well as largely outnumbered." 

From "The Peninsular Campaign" by Lt. Col. B. L. Alexander, in the Atlantic 

Monthly, March, 1864: 

"We had then only Bottom's Bridge, the railroad bridge and the two bridges built 
by Gen. Sumner some miles higher up the river. Bottom's Bridge and the railroad bridge 
were too distant to be of any service in an emergency such as a battle demands. At the 
time of the enemy's attack, which was sudden and unexpected, completely overwhelming 
Gen. Casey's division, our sole reliance to reinforce the left wing was by Sumner's corps, 
and over his two bridges." 

From "The Great Civil War," by Robert Townes, M. D. : 

"The advance division of this position of the army was that commanded by Gen. 
Casey. Its position was in the fields on the right and left of the Richmond and York River 
Railroad to the north, and the turnpike road from Williamsburg to Richmond at the south, 
near Fair Oaks Station on the former, and a place called Seven Pines on the latter, about 
seven miles from the enemy's capital. The fields where Casey was encamped were bounded 
in front and on the left by dense woods, the edges of which had been cut down to form 
abatis, in order to obstruct the approach of the enemy. A line of earthworks had been 
hastily thrown up, consisting of a redoubt on the left and some rifle pits. Behind these 
slight defenses Casey had posted his troops, with the First Brigade on the right, the Second 
in the center and the Third on the left, while his picket guards were pushed forward 



AT SEVEN PINES 243 

into the edge of the wood in front. * * * When the Union pickets were driven back it 
was not suspected that the enemy were coming in great force, and only a single regiment, 

* * * The 103d Penna. was sent to check the advance. * * * Taken by surprise and 
receiving a fire which struck down nearly 200 men at the first volley the Pennsylvanians 
turned and fled in panic, crying out that their regiment had been all cut to pieces. * * * 
An effort was made to check the flight of the panic-stricken troops of Casey, who were 
hastening in disorder to the rear, but without avail, and the full force of the enemy's attack 
now fell upon Couch's division. At about half past four the enemy, after a pause on the 
field from which they had driven Casey's division, advanced to meet Couch's line. * * * 
These regiments yielded their ground, and then in good order, fighting as they retired, only 
when the enemy reinforced by fresh troops, threatened completely to overwhelm them. 

♦ * * The enemy now succeeded in forcing back our line for more than a mile, ceased 
from further effort in that direction." 

From "Major General McClellan and the Campaign on the Peninsula," by Fred'k 

Milnes Edge: 

"The enemy * * * surprised the division under Gen. Casey, driving it from its 
works and capturing its camps and artillery. From the reports of my different informants, 
I gather that the Confederates have achieved a perfect surprise, suddenly rushing into our 
works at the point of bayonet, capturing all the guns and turning them upon our troops. 

"The second division of the Corps, under Couch, managed to hold its works until re- 
enforcements arrived at double quick from Hooker and Kearny; but so overwhelming 
were the numbers and determination of the enemy that, had it not been for the unex- 
pected appearance of Sumner's divisions, the entire force of the Union army south of the 
Chickahominy might have been driven pell-mell into White Oak Swamp. * * * Yester- 
day morning the engagement was renewed by mutual consent of both parties, and we 
really achieved a triumph, the enemy being driven in disorder at all points, and the Union 
lines considerably advanced towards Richmond." 

From "Story of the Civil War," by John Codman Ropes : 

"They drove in the pickets of Casey's division and their supports without difficulty; 
and on being checked at the first line of works, west of Seven Pines, Hill promptly sent 
one of his brigades — Rain's — to the south of the road, thus taking the Federal troops in 
flank, and compelling the evacuation of the lines. The task of the Confederates in this 
part of the battle was the easier, because eight of the thirteen regirnents of Casey's division 
were 'raw' regiments. The other five, however, composing the brigade of Naglee, consti- 
tuted a serviceable organization, and many of the 'raw' troops behaved creditably. * * * 
Couch's division was brought up to the support of Casey's, and the contest was maintained 
with great obstinacy by these troops for some hours." 

From "After the Fall of Yorktown," by Brev. Brig. Gen. Francis W. Palfrey: 

"There has been much controversy about the beha^-ior of our troops, especially of 
Casey's. It is within my personal knowledge, that it was stated at the time and on the 
ground (that is, within the days immediately succeeding the action), that discipline was 
slack in Casey's division; and that, when the pickets were driven in, as many as a thousand 
of them were straying to the front, without arms and equipments, 'prospecting' and amusing 
themselves generally, and that their rush back to camp, when the first shots were fired, had 
a very confusing and demoralizing effect. * * * 

"Johnston's language in regard to the behavior of Casey's division is decidedly com- 
plimentary. He says the division 'occupied a line of rifle-pits, strengthened by a redoubt, 
and covered by abatis. Here the resistance was obstinate, for the Federal, commanded 
by an officer of tried courage, fought as soldiers usually do under good leaders.' It is to 
be remembered that Johnston did not see this fighting himself. The truth I take to have 
been, that there was much bad behavior in Casey's division, and some good, especially in 
the artillery, and in Naglee's brigade, and that the conduct of Couch's men and Kearny's 
two brigades was generally good. * * * My reasons for not going into more detail 
as to the main battle of May 31 are two. In the first place, there is little of interest in the 
execution of the plan. In the second place, the occupants of the main battle are to a large 
extent the accounts of commanders who were not present, as was the case with Johnston 
and McClellan, or of the commanders of beaten troops, like Keyes and Casey. Elxperience 
has taught me to distrust extremely the reports of fighting made by officers who have 
been defeated, and, as both Keyes and Casey practically disappeared from the field shortly 
after the events I am describing, it is a question whether their superiors believed they did 
as well as they said they did. Heintzelman, too, was on the defensive when he wrote his 
report, for he was not only the ranking officer on his side of the river, but the command- 
ing officer. * * * He knew what the position was, he knew that Cascy^s defensive 
works were poor, he had not entire confidence in Casein's troops ; and yet, when the attack 
came, he totally failed to enable him or Keyes to hold their positions. 



244 CASEY'S DIVISION 

From "Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania," by Samuel P. Bates (biographical sketch of 
Gen. Heintzelman) : 

"A division of the 4th Corps, Keyes, under Gen. Casey, was assaulted by superior 
numbers at Fair Oaks. Heintzelman, in command of the 3d and 4th Corps, went to his 
assistance, and by hard fighting saved Casey from destruction. On the following day, at 
Seven Pines, he renewed the battle, and with the aid of other troops brought to his assist- 
ance was driving the foe, having arrived within four miles of Richmond, and aided by the 
consternation which prevailed was hopeful of carrying the rebel capital, when he was ar- 
rested and ordered back." 

From "Battles for the Union," by Willard Glazier : 

"The battle of Seven Pines opened somewhat disastrously to the Union army. Can- 
nonading and picket firing had been kept up so continuously that it was difficult to know 
when a battle was in progress. Suddenly, while our troops were at dinner, the enemy made 
a vigorous attack upon our picket lines, which unfortunately were not more than 80 rods in 
advance of our camp. The retreating pickets were vigorously pursued into camp, and in 
an instant the artillery and musketry of the rebels brought our forces to a realization of 
the fact that 

From "The Army of the Potomac," by Samuel Livingston French : 

A terrific battle ensued in which Casey's division was overwhelmed and driven from 
their position with much loss. Gen. Sumner, however, with his corps had succeeded late 
that afternoon in crossing the river, when the rebels were driven back in confusion and the 
lost ground fully recovered." 

From "The American Educator, a Library of Universal Knowledge" (Vol. II, p. 646) : 
"On the banks of this river [Chickahominy] at Fair Oaks, 7 miles from Richmond, 
the advance guard of the National army under Gen. Casey was attacked by the Confederates 
under the command of Gen. Lee, May 31, 18C2, and defeated with the loss of 19 guns and 
all their baggage and camp equipment. The Union commander, however, pushed forward 
fresh bodies of troops, compelled the Confederates to take shelter in their intrenchments 
before Richmond, June 1." 

CRITICISMS IN REGIMENTAL HISTORIES. 

From "History of the First Regiment Massachusetts Infantry" by Warren H. Cud- 
worth : 

"After waiting from daylight till noon, the forces of Longstreet and Hill made a 
fierce and sudden attack upon Casey's division, just as the men were eating their dinner. 
A tremendous volley of musketry, followed by a bayonet-charge along the whole line, scat- 
tered the 103d Penna., who were deployed as skirmishers, in a moment, and brought the 
rebels upon a line of men, half of whom, ten minutes before, had been crouching over cook- 
fires, or lying asleep in their shelter tents. Of course the entire front was broken, and gave 
way in utter confusion. Camps, tents, stores, baggage, guns, clothing, were left; and, while 
the enemy were temporarily checked by the plunder thus exposed, the line was reformed near 
a redoubt in the rear, with an extensive range of rifle-pits on the wings. * * * Gen. 
McClellan now ordered his troops to assume the offensive, and along the entire line the 
rebels were slowly forced back, leaving their dead and wounded in our hands. The fight 
continued at intervals till long after dark, and the Union troops finally bivouacked upon the 
ground the enemy had held nearly all the afternoon. At daybreak the next morning, Sun- 
day, June 1, the three Union corps were ordered forward simultaneously. * * * They 
encountered the enemy at the start, receiving a severe and well directed fire, which was 
returned with a will ; and our men, loading as they advanced, pushed rapidly forward. * * * 
It was here that Gen. Howard displayed such signal gallantry. * * * He utterly re- 
fused to leave his men ; and following his splendid example, they pressed on amid a din of 
musketry and cannon perfectly deafening, and bore down everything before them." 

From "History of the Seventh Massachusetts Volunteers." by Nelson V. Hutchinson: 

"About two o'clock on Mav 31 the rebels moved up to the attack in overwhelming 
numbers, brushing away the skirmishers of Casey's division as a broom sweeps cobwebs 
from a ceiling, and soon struck Naglee's brigade, which, after a brisk fire, was forced back 
upon the reserves. On came the rebels in magnificent style; and soon Casey's division, or 
the largest portion of it, was routed by superior numbers, some parts of it doing excellent 
fighting, while others were altogether too active in getting away from the roaring shot and 
shell and whistling ping of the minie." 

* * * "The battle of Fair Oaks was fought under great disadvantages on the part 
of the Fourth corps, its poorest and weakest division being in the advance under a super- 
annuated general, whose personal magnetism and bearing amounted to but very little as a 
factor in holding green and undisciplined troops up to the work in severe action." 



AT SEVEN PINES 245 

From "Annals of 10th Regiment Mass. Volunteers," by Capt. Joseph Keith Newell : 

"May the 10th * * * made a reconnaissance of the enemy's position, passing through 
our outer picket. The picket duty was being performed by details from Casey's division, 
and their shameful neglect, in a great measure, caused the surprise of our troops, three days 
afterwards. Nearly every picket post had a fire, the smoke of which was plainly discernible 
to the rebels, giving them the exact position of every post. Some of the men were sitting 
down with their backs to the enemy, and their muskets leaning against trees, busily engaged 
reading dime novels, and the enemy within a hundred rods of them. As soon as our re- 
connoitering party was discovered by the rebels, they opened fire with a six pounder, doing 
no damage, the shells bursting harmlessly among the trees, and before they had secured 
accurate range of our position, the object of the expedition was accomplished. One of the 
shells struck the trunk of a tree, beind which Conners of Company I was sitting down, 
jarring it from stem to root. 'Be jabers,' said Conners, looking up in astonishment, T hap- 
pened to be on the right side of the tree that time.' * * * 

"Just after noon commenced the battle of Fair Oaks, which came upon our army like 
a clap of thunder from a clear sky. The first intimation received was a furious and in- 
cessant firing just in front of us, and was occasioned by the enemy falling like an avalanche 
on Gen. Casey's position. * * * Down they came through Casey's pickets, and on to 
his main line like a thunderbolt, carrying everything before them, and the 10th was hardly 
in line before Casey's stragglers commenced pouring down the road to the rear. 

"The 55th New York was ordered up and took position in a slashing in front of the 
10th, and commenced firing. They found this an extremely hot place, and in a few minutes 
they began to melt away, and those that were left fell back before the murderous fire of 
the enemy. At this juncture the Tenth were moved forward some 25 rods, where they 
formed line of battle on the north side of a narrow strip of cleared land, and just in rear of 
the position just left by the 55th. * * * While thus situated the left companies discov- 
ered that our line was being flanked on the left, and that a line facing the east had been 
formed in the woods, a short distance from the left flank of the 10th, completely enfilading 
the line. The Regiment then fell back * * * until they reached their camp ; again moved 
forward as far as the rifle-pits. From here they followed Gen. Keyes across the road to 
a position considerably to the right of any they had previously occupied, and again engaged 
the enemy.* * * Here Col. Briggs was wounded, about five o'clock in the afternoon. * * * 
The command devolved upon Capt. Miller. He instantly rallied the men on the colors, and 
formed line of battle, his left resting upon the road. He held his ground until dark." 

From "History of 20th Massachusetts Volunteers" by George A. Bruce : 

"Gen. Longstreet opened the battle at 1 P. M. With D. H. Hill's four brigades, sup- 
ported by two of his own, he made a fierce attack down the Williamsburg road on Casey's 
division. These troops were the rawest and least disciplined in the Federal army, and 
some of them behaved badly. But probably the majority of them showed courage and 
made as good a stand as could be made by green troops, with their organizations consider- 
ably broken, against twice their number ; for then the rebels had six brigades actually fight- 
ing (besides three in support) against three. However, they were quickly driven back to 
their second line, Couch's division of their corps; but they were thoroughly broken up, 
having lost very heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners, besides an enormous number of 
stragglers, and as an organization were of no more use in this battle. Couch's division 
made a good stand here, but was gradually forced back beyond Seven Pines and nearly to 
Savage's Station. Here they were reinforced by two brigades of Kearny's division of the 
3d Corps, and by the stout fighting of these five brigades (one of which was soon cut off 
north of the railroad). Longstreet was stopped at dark, although he had in the meantime 
put in two more of his brigades, making eight in all engaged. 

"Between 6 :30 and 7 A. M. of Sunday, June 1, some of the troops on the south of 
the railroad, who had slept on their arms within half musket range of each other, came 
into collision by accident and without the intention of the commanders on either side. * * * 
This action lasted about two hours, when the rebels were driven back, and their whole army 
then retired to the defenses of Richmond ; when the troops south of the railroad reoccupied 
the position captured from Casey, throwing pickets out in front, while we, on the north of 
the railroad, took position on the Nine Mile road beyond our field of battle." 

From "History of the 105th Penna. Regiment," by Kate M. Scott: 

"May 31st, about 10 o'clock a. m., firing began in front, rapidly growing heavier. * * * 
So impetuous and deadly was this change that the rebels gave way and were driven across 
and out of Casey's camp. * * * The 105th, after driving the enemy out of Casey's camp, 
pursued them until the entire line on the right gave way. 

" 'All our men had fled from the abatis in the vicinity of Richmond road. At last the 
enemy broke and ran and McKnight pursued them through Casey's camp.' " 



246 CASEY'S DIVISION 

From "History of the 3d Excelsior (72 New York Volunteer Infantry), by Henri 
Le Fevre Brown : 

"May 31, at four P. M., marching orders were received. Marched seven miles to the 
front near Seven Pines, where Casey's division had been surprised and severely handed by 
the rebels. The front was reached at seven P. M., the brigade going into line of battle at 
once, and lay on their arms, a very heavy rain falling all night. Sunday, June 1, at seven 
A. M., the 3d Regiment advanced in line of battle about one mile, the 2d and 4th Regiments 
making a gallant charge on the right. * * * Monday morning, June 2, an advance was 
made, the rebels falling back into their main lines about Richmond." 

From "History of Company D, 11th Regiment, Maine Infantry, Volunteers," by Albert 
Maxfield and Robert Brady, Jr. : 

"When about noon of the 31st of May, the rebel commands of D. H. Hill, Huger, 
Longstreet and G. W. Smith swept down on Casey's division, D, and other companies of 
the regiment were on the picket line, D on the extreme right. The few members of D left 
in camp joined regiments moving to the front as they came forward, and with the rest of 
Naglee's brigade, to use the language of Gen. McClellan's official report concerning our 
brigade, 'struggled gallantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle pits against overwhelming 
masses of the enemy.' " 

FAVORABLE COMMENTS ON CASEY'S DIVISION. 

From "Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers," by John Russell Bartlett: 

"When it is considered that a body of less than five thousand men for three hours 
resisted the advance of more than five times their number, doing it with an immense loss 
and under a murderous fire of cannon and small arms, the conduct of Casey's division 
deserved praise instead of censure. The unavoidable rout of the 103d Penna. caused the 
storm of censure which has been so undeservedly heaped upon a body of troops who nobly 
fought their first battle." 

From "Peninsular Campaign," by Rev. J. J. Marks, Chaplain 63d Pa. Vols. : 
"And here, for three hours, less than 5,000 men held back 20,000, for the force of 
Gen. Casey, at the commencement of the action, was not more than 6,000 men, and 1,000 
were hors de combat; and thus crippled the division had to sustain this unequal contest for 
so long a time. Many of the Confederate officers whom I met in Richmond, and before it, 
uniformly spoke in the highest terms of the bravery of Gen. Casey; and that his troops 
fought as well as they had ever known fresh and undisciplined regiments, and that they had 
met from them a far more vigorous resistance than they had anticipated." 

From "Civil War in America" by John S. C. Abbott : 

"In the earliest dawn of Saturday morning, the 31st of May, sixty thousand rebels 
were thus stealthily on the march for destruction of Gen. Casey's corps. The military sagac- 
ity of Gen. Casey enabled him fully to comprehend the peril of his position. He had re- 
monstrated against the exposure, and was now doing everything in his power to prepare 
to meet an assault in which no possible courage or sagacity could give him victory. About 
11 o'clock in the morning, a mounted vedette came riding at full speed into the camp, re- 
porting that quite a large body of rebel troops were seen approaching on the Richmond 
Road. The firing of the pickets almost immediately commenced, and at the same time two 
shells from the rebel artillery came shrieking through the air, and fell beyond the encamp- 
ment. The troops were instantly called to arms. All the men at work upon the intrench- 
ments were dispatched to their regiments ; the artillery was harnessed up, the batteries 
placed in position, and the One Hundred and First [103d] Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers was sent down the road to check the force and support the picket. Thus far no one 
knew the magnitude of the advancing force, and it was generally supposed that nothing was 
impending but one of those sharp skirmishes in which the troops had engaged on both 
preceding days. The Pennsylvania troops, about six hundred in number, marched briskly 
along the Richmond Road, little imagining that they were throwing themselves upon the 
bayonets of sixteen thousand rebels. Just as this little band of patriot troops emerged from 
the forest upon a clearing, to their surprise and consternation they encountered an army 
but a few rods before them, and were instantly assailed by a murderous discharge of bullets, 
which swept thickly as hailstones through their ranks. One-fifth of their whole number, 
at the first volley, fell dead or wounded. There was no refuge for this handful of men but 
in precipitate flight. In twenty minutes they would have been entirely surrounded, and 
every man would have been killed or a prisoner. Gen. McClellan, who was in the far rear, 
and who did not always know what was going on in the front ranks of his army, inconsid- 
erately, and with unintentional cruelty, telegraphed Secretary Stanton that Gen. Casey's 
division gave way 'unaccountably and discreditably.' The retreat of this feeble band, before 
such overwhelming numbers, reflects not at all upon their heroism. The Old Guard of 
Napoleon, under similar circumstances, would have retired. * * * * Three hours and 



AT SEVEN PINES 247 

a half had passed. During all this time Gen. Casey's division had held the enemy in check, 
without a single man being sent to his aid. There was surely grievous fault somewhere. 
But for this heroic resistance, the troops on the other or northern bank of the Chickahominy 
would have met with i fearful resistance." 

From "Three Years in the Army of the Potomac," by Capt. Henry N. Blake, 11th 
Mass. Infantry: 

"The field was visible in the morning to the eyes of the soldiers, who beheld one 
of the most ghastly spectacles that has ever been witnessed. Scores of horses and the 
swollen and black corpses of hundreds of rebels were stretched upon the ground, and in 
spots lay in groups, that showed a fearful waste of life, and myriads of maggots were 
feasting upon the putrid forms, and swarmed upon the earth so that it was difficult to walk 
without crushing them beneath the feet. Many soldiers, in the obscurity of the night, 
had slept side by side with the bodies of the slain, supposing that they were comrades, and 
the loathsome worms entered their haversacks and crept upon their blankets and overcoats. 
Some who had complained about a foot or boot that interfered with their personal comfort, 
or the form of a person over whom they had stumbled when groping their way to their 
posts, were amazed to discover that a corpse had been the subject of their oaths. * * * 
Graves were visible in every direction after the horses had been burned and the dead were 
buried ; and when the line was advanced some were seen in the swamp, standing in the 
posture in which they were killed, and so rapidly had they decomposed in three weeks there 
was no flesh upon the skulls, which had partially bleached." 

From Critical History of the War, by Asa Mahan : 

"The two divisions of Keyes' were advanced far beyond any immediate support, to 
within about six miles of Richmond, Casey's division being stationed at Fair Oaks on 
the York River Railroad, and Couch's at Seven Pines, about one mile to the southeast on 
the Williamsburg road." * * * 

"In his despatches Gen. McClellan, as if to divert attention from his own errors, 
charged that Casey's division gave way unaccountably and discreditably. That division 
did not give way until more than one-third of its number lay dead or wounded upon the 
bloody field." 

From "A Birds-Eye View of Our Civil War," by Theodore Ayrault Dodge : 

"It is now well proven that Casey's men fought staunchly; but they were over- 
matched and soon driven in; sad confusion took possession of their ranks; destruction 
seemed imminent ; and only by heavy reinforcements from Heintzelman were we able by 
nightfall to reform and hold a line near Savage Station. We had been driven back more 
than a mile. * * * The following morning the battle was renewed. * * * The 
Federals not only held their own but drove the enemy from the ground occupied the day 
before." 

From "History of the Southern Rebellion," by Orville J. Victor: 

"The defeat of Casey elicited from McQellan a severe and damaging dispatch, re- 
flecting upon the courage and discipline of the entire division. It was censure quite un- 
merited; and though afterward retracted by the General-in-Chief, the impression of the 
first dispatch prevailed. The facts regarding Casey's command are, of themselves, his best 
defense ; his force was largely composed of raw regiments, said one of the oflficers familiar 
with the facts : 

" 'The division was, by all odds, the weakest in numbers, in physique and morale of 
the whole army, and that from no fault, that I am aware of, on the part of its experi- 
enced and gallant division and brigade commanders. To Gtn. Casey fell the last raw 
regiments which arrived at Washington, and they took the field scarcely organized, not 
at all drilled or but slightly, and a portion of them before having drawn their arms. Their 
officers, however well intentioned and brave, were as green and raw as their men. The 
result was just what might have been expected. When, from long marches and insufficient 
food, and damp beds and malarious atmosphere, even the regulars suffered, in spite of the 
care 'and watchfulness of officers and men, these raw regiments were fairly wilted. The 
climax of their miseries was reached when, by the drift of the events, they were suddenly 
marched from their swampy camp, near Yorktown, without the opportunity of taking their 
tents, knapsacks or blankets, and were exposed to wet and cold, and probably hunger, dur- 
ing the many weary hours which preceded the battle of Williamsburg. No wonder from 
that date the division was weakened by 700 men.' 

"When the division fell in for battle on Saturday the regiment to which I am attached 
had about one-third of its force unfit for duty, and these men remained in camp, their com- 
rades taking their position leisurely and in ample time. Those unfitted for the fight by 
reason of their di -.ability, at once sought the rear, bearing with them their arms and 



248 CASEY'S DIVISION 

accoutrements. Among the latter may have been a large number of real 'skulkers,' but it 
is conclusive that the division, as such, fought stubbornly until pressed back by over- 
whelming odds." 

From "History of the American Civil War," by John Wm. Draper: 

"Casey's division * * * advanced as far as Fair Oaks Station; Couch lay at Seven 
Pines, * * *. [Then followed a diagram on same page, 384, Vol. II., showing Casey center 
west of Fair Oaks Station, his extreme left about midway between the railroad and the 
Williamsburg road.] Casey resisted the Confederate shock, which occurred at about 1 
P. M., very resolutely. The day was dark and gloomy, and from an air balloon it was 
seen that the entire Confederate army was advancing. Casey was outnumbered and over- 
whelmed. He was driven back, after a three hours' struggle, more than a mile; he lost six 
guns and his camp was taken. He was compelled to retire on Couch." 

From "History of the United States," by E. Benjamin Andrews: 

"May 31st the Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston fell upon the part of 
McClellan's army south of the river, at Fair Oaks, and in a bloody battle drove it back a 
mile. McClellan sent re-enforcements across the river, and the retreat was stayed. The 
lost ground was regained next day and the enemy driven into Richmond." 

From "History of the 2d Army Corps" by Gen. Francis A. Walker: 

"That battle ought really never to have been fought, for it had no purpose, no plan 
of action, no place in any scheme of operations. It is a question to this day, which was 
the attacking party. On the Confederate side, the lack of co-ordination, which made the 
fighting so desultory and so ineffectual, was due to the great overshadowing fact that the 
commander-in-chief, probably the best soldier in the Confederate service, had been struck 
down on the 31st. 

"On the Union side there was equal lack of commandership. Sumner and Heintzel- 
man were certain to fight, and to defend each his own line stoutly, if attacked. * * * 
Neither the first nor the second day's action, in which the Second Corps participated at 
Fair Oaks, was of the nature of a desperate battle. In each affair the division engaged 
had driven its antagonist from the fi£ld, without itself being shattered or suffering very 
heavy losses." 

From the History of the 11th Maine Infantry, by Brev. Brig. Gen. J. A. Hill, Colonel 
of the 11th, subsequent to the Battle of Seven Pines : 

"Scarcely had the troops and batteries moved into position when the left of the 
picket line was forced back, and though immediately reinforced by the 104th Penna., the 
pickets on the left broke and fell to the rear of the 104th, and the rebels pressing forward 
against the brigades of Palmer and Wessells, these troops soon melted away, leaving the 
left and rear of our brigade open to attack. Meanwhile Gen. Naglee was holding his 
ground before the redoubt with all the vigor of his stubborn nature. He was everywhere, 
his gray eyes blazing with excitement, his strident voice heard above the roar of battle, 
begging, ordering, imploring his men to stand up to the support of the battery, which was 
hurling grape and canister into the advancing masses of the enemy. Nor was he alone in 
his efforts, for Gen. Casey rode up and down his lines that day, bareheaded, his long gray 
hair floating over his shoulders, encouraging his men by voice and example to a heroic 
resistance. About 1 o'clock Gen. Casey ordered the 100th New York, 104th Penna. and 
the little battalion of the 11th Maine to charge. Dashing into the open field, these regi- 
ments pressed forward so vigorously as to force the first line of the enemy back; Spratt's 
battery aiding them by hurling shells over their heads into the rebel ranks. But it was of 
no use; the left of the division line, with the reinforcements sent by Couch, had now fallen 
away. Col. Brown of the 100th New York was killed; Col. Davis of the 104th Penna. was 
wounded, half the men in action were killed or wounded, and the charging line fell back, 
pressed so closely by the enemy that Sergt. Porter, the left guide of the 104th Penna., was 
struck across the neck with a saber in the hands of one of the rebel pursuers. Gen. 
Naglee ordered his men to retire into the intrenchments with the battery. One of the guns 
had to be abandoned, as the horses were all killed. The other guns were got into the 
intrenchments, the infantry following, while the batteries of Fitch and Bates opened upon the 
pursuing rebels with grape and canister, and with such terrible effect that, though facing the 
fire again and again, the rebels were forced to fall back from each effort. As our slim 
brigade line was re-forming in the intrenchments, the rebels advanced on the open left and 
rear of the redoubt and took position to command it. Their fire was now most fatal. Col. 
Bailey was shot through the head just as he was giving the order to spike the guns, if they 
must be abandoned; Maj. Van Valkenburgh, his second in command, was killed a few 
moments later, his adjutant, Rumsey, was wounded, and the batteries were without a direct- 
ing ofBcer until Gen. Naglee took personal command of the artillerymen and inspired them 
to vigorous work until forced to abandon the guns to the now inpouring enemy, only sue- 



AT SEVEN PINES • 249 

ceeding in getting off part of the guns of our brigade battery, Regan's, and these only by the 
men supporting the wounded horses to keep them from falhng m their traces. As the 
redoubt was abandoned, the rebels rushed into it and turned the captured guns upon the left 
flanks of the 56th New York, 52d Penna. and the 11th Maine. These regiments had taken 
positions in the rifle pits to cover the retreat. 'This,' writes a historian, 'with the fire in 
front was not to be endured, and after, as Gen. McClellan reports, 'having struggled gal- 
lantly to maintain the redoubt and rifle pits against overpowering masses of the enemy, these 
regiments were withdrawn from the intrenchments, and, with the reinforcements remaining 
in the field from Couch's dinsion, regiments of the brigades of Devens and Peck, both of 
these brigades giving Naglee gallant support throughout the day, took position along the 
Nine-mile road, about 300 yards from the Seven Pines, which trees stood at the junction of 
the Nine-mile and Williamsburg roads.' " 

COMMENTS ON CASEY'S DIVISION. 
CONFEDERATE ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES (FAIR OAKS). 

• From Richmond Dispatch, June 2. 1862: 

"Between eleven and twelve A. M. the 28th Georgia and 2d Mississippi were em- 
ployed as skirmishers fronting the works, and began the advance without much opposition; 
but as they proceeded along the turnpike, and in the woods, the enemy, concealed behind 
a fence and in force, opened a furious rifle fire, which, for a moment, caused our brave 
boys to wink and stagger. Yet. recovering themselves in an instant, they delivered a mur- 
derous volley in reply, and, with hearty cheers, dashed through the woods after their dis- 
comfited and frightened foe, driving them helter skelter before them, and making many 
bite the cold, wet and muddy ground. Observing the strength of the enemy's line in front, 
our commander ordered up the 4th North Carolina, who, advancing in force, broke through 
the 2d Mississippi battalion in their hurried progress, and divided the latter corps in such 
a manner that, subsequently, their whole force could not be again collected. Brilliant in 
conception and execution, the finely drilled North Carolinians' flanked the enemy's dense line 
of skirmishers, and did such sad havoc by their flanking fire that the enemy precipitately 
fell back." 

From Richmond Dispatch, June 2, 1862 : 

"Our killed may not exceed 500 ; our wounded are nearly 5,000 * * * The fruits of 
the victory are meagre — some 25 pieces of cannon [only seven], several stands of colors, 
and four or five hundred prisoners at the outside. The enemy's loss, except at the intrench- 
ments, is not large. Protected by his earthworks and the dense undergrowth into which 
we drove him, he poured a decimate fire into our devoted ranks. This without rhodomon- 
tade is the result of the battle. * * * The city is one vast hospital. Women's minis- 
tering hands are not wanting to alleviate the sufferings of our wounded." 

From Memphis Appeal, June 2 : 

"From the breastwork, fortification, house, woodpile and adjacent woods the enemy 
kept up a murderous fire, and the head of a regiment could not appear before fearfully 
assailed bv the combined defenses. Nor was this all. Gen. Casey and other Federal gen- 
erals, find'ing that equal forces could not withstand ours successively brought up brigade 
after brigade, and gun after gun — their roads being passable — and Hill's division was fight- 
ing fearful odds, when some of Longstreet's division opportunely arrivel and changed 
the aspect of things materially, for although always advancing, our troops now took things 
at a run, and cheer after cheer rent the air as regiment after regiment got into action and 
closed with the enemy. Thus from 12 o'clock until past two. Hill had borne the brunt of 
the fight alone, but at that hour some wearied troops being withdrawn and fresh ones put 
in front instead, the fighting and firing became fast and furious. Yet no artillery was 
present on our side up to this time. Some of the Lynchburg (Latham's) battery now ar- 
rived on the scene, together with one or two pieces of Carter's battery; and although horses 
were goaded almost to death it was found almost impossible to move them. * * * The 
fight now (about 3 P. M.) was terrific. Our forces being about equal, the men were per- 
fectly wild, and shouted, and whooped, and hallooed, like very demons, firing and charging 
in wood and open to the right and left of the enemy's works, while scores were falling 
at every moment." 

From Memphis Appeal, Richmond, June 3, 1862: 

"The Missippians and Georgians had scarcely entered the timber when the enemy's 
strong outposts and pickets opened a terrible fire upon them, and slowly fell back to a 
heaw line of support about one-quarter of a mile to the rear. Advancing upon these, the 
skirmishing regiments had reached a high and strong fence, when instantly the enemy arose 



250 CASEY'S DIVISION 

from a crouching' posture, and delivered repeated volleys, presenting a perfect sheet of 
flame across our whole front. The skirmishers fought splendidly against such odds, but 
would have been forced back but in the "nick of time" Anderson's splendidly-drilled Fourth 
North Carolina regiment advanced along the road at double quick, unobserved, broke our 
skirmishing line very unceremoniously, and, flanking the enemy, poured volley upon volley 
with such rapidity and precision that the foe retired in haste, relieved the skirmishers, ind 
the fight soon became general for half a mile on each side of the road, but not extending 
to the railroad on the left, or more than five hundred yards to the right." 

From Preface to Military Memoirs of a Confederate Officer, by Brig. Gen. E. P. 
Alexander : 

"History, meanwhile, has been following the incomplete reports of the earlier days 
which, sometimes as at Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks) have deliberately concealed the facts, 
and has always felt the need of the personal accounts covering the incidents of every 
march, skirmish and battle." 

From "Military Memoirs of a Confederate Officer," by E. P. Alexander, Brigadier- 
General in the C. S. A., Chief of Artillery, Longstreet's Corps: 

"In a conference with Longstreet during the afternoon of May 30, the battle for 
the next day was planned in accordance with the intimation given D. H. Hill about noon. 
* * * Accordingly on the 29th, and again on the 30th, one or two regiments were ad- 
vanced and drove in the enemy's pickets on our extreme right flank, developing his presence 
and that he was fortifying. This being reported to Johnson by D. H. Hill soon after noon 
on the 30th, Hill was informed in reply that he would lead an attack upon the enemy next 
morning. The conference was prolonged by the coming up of a violent rain storm, scarcely 
second to any in violence, according to my recollection, that I saw during the war. Over 
three inches of rain must have fallen in the first two hours, and it kept up more or less 
until late at night. It was hoped that this rain would make our task easier by rendering 
the Chickahominy impassable for re-enforcements to the enemy. Indeed, it did 
have this effect, but not until the night of tne day after the rain. The immediate effect was 
only to make all of our marchings and manoeuvers slower and more difficult, and the flat, 
swampy country of much of the battlefield was entirely inundated. * * * On the Fed- 
eral side the battle was opened by Casey's division, moderately well fortified with trenches, 
batteries and abatis, and soon supported by Peck's brigade of Couch's division. These four 
brigades were finally routed from their first line by the Rains flank movement." 

From "Southern Generals," in a sketch of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, by William 
Parker Snow : 

"Early in the morning of the 31st, however, it was rumored that Johnston intended 
attacking the enemy's left, and that because, as the bridges were washed away, it would 
prevent McClellan sending re-enforcements to this position of the army. The movement 
began between six and eight o'clock A. M., Longstreet and Hill in the advance, toiling 
through the mire on the Williamsburg road. The plan of operation was as follows: Gen. 
Hill, supported by the division of Gen. Longstreet (who had the direction of the opera- 
tions on the right), was to advance by the Williamsburg road to attack the enemy in front; 
Gen. Huger, with his division, was to move down the Charles City road in order to attack 
in flank the troops who might be engaged with Hill and Longstreet, unless he found in his 
front force enough to occupy the division. Gen. Smith was to march to the junction of 
the New' Bridge road and the Nine Mile road to be in readiness either to fall on Keyes' 
right flank or to cover Longstreet's left. * * * The wound Gen. Johnston received came 
while he was in front. * * * ^ battery opened from a thicket, and a piece of shell 
struck him severely, at the same time a Minie ball entered his shoulder and passed down 
his back." 

From "Biography of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston," by Robert M. Hughes : 

"The first enemy encountered was Casey's picket line, which he had re-enforced with 
a regiment almost as the combat opened. These w^ere soon swept away, and his main line, 
partly protected by intrenchments. was encountered. Here the resistance was more obsti- 
nate, for this division, though maligned by McClellan in his official report, held its ground 
with tenacity, and only yielded when attacked in front by Garland, Anderson and Rodes, 
and threatened in flank by Rains." 

From "Johnston's Narrative," by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston : 

"No action of the war has been so little understood as that of Seven Pines. The 
Southern people have felt no interest in it, because, being unfinished in consequence of the 
disabling of the commander, they saw no advantage derived from it; and the Federal com- 
manders claimed the victory because the Confederate forces did not renew the battle on 



AT SEVEN PINES 251 

Sunday, and fell back to their camps on Monday. Gen. Sumner stated to the committee 
on the conduct of the war, that he had, in the battle of Fair Oaks, five or six thousand 
men in SedgAvick's division, part of Couch's, and a battery, and that after the firing- had 
continued some time, six regiments, which he had in hand on the left of the battery, charged 
directly into the woods; the enemy then fled, and the battle was over for that day. 

"Gen. Heintzelman, before the same committee, claimed the victory at Seven Pines 
upon no other ground that I can perceive than the withdrawal of the Confederates to their 
camps on Monday, although his statement shows clearly that all his troops and Keyes' that 
fought there were defeated, and driven back six or seven miles to the shelter of intrench- 
ments previously prepared by his forethought. And that they remained Sunday under the 
protection of these intrenchrnents while Hill was gathering the arms scattered in woods and 
thickets, more than two miles in extent. The proofs against these claims are * * * that 
Sumner and Heintzelman stood on the defensive the day after the battle, while the Con- 
federate right covered all the ground on which it fought the day before." 

* * * "The ardor and greatly superior numbers of the Confederates soon over- 
came their resistance, and drove them back to the main position of the first line of Keyes' 
corps — Casey's division. It occupied a line of rifle pits, strengthened by a redoubt, and 
covered by abatis. Here the resistance was obstinate; for the Federal troops, commanded 
by an officer of tried courage, fought as soldiers usually do under good leaders, and time 
and vigorous efforts were required to drive them from their position. But the resolution, 
of Garland's and George B. Anderson's brigades, that pressed forward on the left through 
an open field, under a destructive fire; the admirable sers'ice of Carter's and Bondurant's 
batteries, and a skilfully combined attack upon the Federal left, under Gen. Hill's direction, 
by Rodes' brigade in front, and that of Rains' in flank, were finally successful, and the enemy 
abandoned their intrenchments. Just then re-enforcements were received from their second 
line and they turned to recover their lost position. But to no purpose — they were driven 
back, fighting, upon their second line — Couch's division, at Seven Pines. * * * Keyes' 
corps, united in this second position, was assailed with such spirit by the Confederate troops 
that, although re-enforced by Kearny's division of Heintzelman's corps, it was broken, di- 
vided, and driven from its ground — the greater part along the Williamsburg road, to Gen. 
Heintzelman's intrenched line, two miles from Bottom's Bridge, and two brigades to the 
southeast into White Oak Swamp. Gen. Hill pursued the enemy towards Bottom's Bridge, 
more than a mile; then night being near, he gathered his troops and reformed them, facing 
to the east, as they had been fighting. The line thus formed crossed the Williamsburg road 
at right angles. The left, however, was thrown back to force Sumner's corps at Fair Oaks." 

From "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," by Gen. G. W. Smith : 

"Casey's troops, in falling back from their earthworks, endeavored to make a stand 
at the abatis in front of Couch's line, and Gen. Keyes sent forward one regiment of Deven's 
brigade to assist in checking the advance of the Confederates. Casey's men were driven 
through the abatis, and the regiment of Deven's brigade was hurled back in disorder, and 
could not be rallied until they had retreated beyond the earthworks from which they had 
advanced. A large proportion of the men of- Palmer's and Wessell's brigades having been 
thrown into great disorder whilst retiring through the second abatis, and finding the earth- 
works of the second line already crowded, continued to retreat; but some of them, with 
nearly the whole of Naglee's brigade, remained upon the field." 

From "War Pictures," by B. Estman : 

"Gen. Hill commenced a furious attack on the enemy's left wing, which being in a well 
intrenched position, was enabled to make a good defense, and all Hill's efforts to storm the 
position were in vain. Anderson, with his division and two batteries, rushed to his sup- 
port, and a most desperate struggle ensued, the enemy defending his position with great 
resolution; and the ground was ere long covered with the dead and dying. Anderson so 
placed his batteries as to establish a cross fire, and under the protection of these guns again 
led his men to the assault. A determined fight now commenced on the parapet of the 
enemy's works, whilst the fire from the two batteries frustrated any attempt on his part to 
bring up re-enforcements. The Federal troops defended themselves obstinately; disputmg 
every foot of ground with their assailants, and as yet the Confederals had no advantage. 
The commander of the Federal troops strenuously urged his men to hold their ground and 
they responded to his appeal by standing by their guns till numbers of them were cut to 
pieces. At this moment their leader was cut down by a bullet, and at this sight their stul>- 
born resistance began to falter, and they gradually fell back. Thus the Confederate troops 
by degrees got a firm footing on the obstinately contested position. Another impetuous rush 
was made by the Confederates, and the enemy was driven headlong from his works and 
sought safety in flight. * * * An indescribable panic seized the enemy, and they gave 
way along their whole line * '* * It seemed as if no human power could stop them in their 
disorderly flight." 



252 CASEY'S DIVISION 

From "Published Letters of J. W. Reid, private of the 4th South Carolina Regiment : 

"Of my own company of ten or twelve men, Geo. Driver was shot in the mouth and 
killed; Judd McLees, killed, shot in the head; Wheeler Gilmore, mortally wounded, besides 
several others more or less injured. Elijah Herring was slightly wounded and fatally 
scared. Of the battallion Maj. Mattison was wounded, both the Harlans wounded, and so 
many others killed and wounded that I cannot at present give their names. Ail this was 
done in less than ten minutes. When Maj. Matteson fell some one called out 'Retreat!' My 
captain, D. L. Hall, and about ten others of my company were all there were left of us. 
The other companies of the battalion, what was left of them, remained and we did what 
shooting we could while lying on the ground among our dead and wounded comrades. 
It was but a short time before the expected reinforcements joined us, when we drove the 
enemy out of the woods with considerable loss on their side. By this time the fighting be- 
came hot on both sides and in the center, Longstreet's position as usual. I cannot convey 
an idea of the terror of the next few hours. As I said at the beginning of this letter. 

The sulphur and smoke o'ershadowed the earth, 

And the cannon they did rattle, 
And many brave men lie cold in the earth. 

Who were slain in the Seven Pines battle. 

"We in the center kept driving the enemy back slowly until they got to their camp 
when they made a bold stand, but they could not stand the Southern charge. They finallv 
gave way and left all their camp equipment behind them. We followed them about a mile 
farther." 

From "Reminiscences of the Civil War," by Gen. John B. Gordon: 
"Whatever rank may be assigned in history to the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair 
Oaks, as the Union men call it, it was to my regiment one of the bloodiest of my war ex- 
perience. Hurled, in the early morning, against the breastworks which protected that por- 
tion of McClellan's lines, my troops swept over and captured them, but at heavy cost. As 
I spurred my horse over the works with my men, my adjutant, who rode at my side, fell 
heavily with his horse down the embaJikment, and both were killed. Reforming my men 
under a galling fire, and ordering them forward in another charge upon the support- 
ing lines, which fought with the most stubborn resistance, disputing every foot of ground, 
I soon found that Lieut.-Col. Willingham, as gallant a soldier as ever rode through fire 
and who was my helper on the right, had also been killed and his horse with him. Maj. 
Nesmith, whose towering form I could still see on the left, was riding abreast of the 
men and shouting in trumpet tones : "Forward, men ; forward !" but a ball soon silenced 
his voice forever. Lieut-Col., major, adjutant, with their horses, were all dead, and I was 
left alone on horseback with my men dropping rapidly around me. My soldiers declared 
that they distinctly heard the command from the Union lines, "Shoot that man on horse- 
back !" In both armies it was thought that the surest way to demoralize troops was to 
shoot down the officers. Nearly or quite half the time officers of the twelve companies 
had by this time fallen, dead or wounded. Gen. Rodes, the superb brigade commander, had 
been disabled. Still I had marvellously escaped, with only my clothing pierced. As I 
rode up and down my line, encourag^ing the men forward, I passed my young brother, only 
nineteen years old, but captain of one of the companies. He was lying with a number of 
dead companions near him. He had been shot through the lungs and was bleeding pro- 
fusely. I did not stop ; I could not stop, nor would he permit me to stop. There was no 
time for that — no time for anything except to move on and fire on. At this time my own 
horse, the only one left, was killed. He could, however, have been of little service to 
me any longer, for in the edge of this flooded swamp heavy timber had been felled, making 
an abatis quite impossible on horseback, and I should have been compelled to dismount. 
McClellan's men were slowly being pressed into and through the Chickahominy swamp, 
which was filled with water; but at almost every step they were pouring terrific vollies into 
my lines. My regiment had been in some way separated from the brigade, and at this 
juncture seemed to reach the climax of extremities. My field officers and adjutant were 
all dead. Every horse ridden into the fight, my own among them, was dead. Fully one- 
half of my line officers and half my men were dead, or wounded. A furious fire still 
poured from the front and re-enforcements were nowhere in sight. The brigade com- 
mander was disabled, and there was no horse or means at hand of communication with 



AT SEVEN PINES 253 

his headquarters or any other headquarters, except by one of my soldiers on foot, and the 
chances ten to one against his living to bear my message. In water from knee- to hip-deep, 
the men were fighting and falling, while a detail propped up the wounded against stumps 
or trees to prevent their drowning. Fresh troops in blue were moving to my right flank 
and pouring a raking fire down my line, and compelling me to change front with my 
companions there." 

From "Pickett and His Men," by Mrs. Gen. Geo. E. Pickett: 

"Shortly after seven he [Gen. J. E. Johnston] was slightly wounded by a musket 
shot A little later he observed that one of his colonels was trying to dodge the shells. 
He turned towards him and said, 'Colonel, there is no use dodging; when you hear them 
they have passed.' Just then a shell exploded, striking him on the breast, and he fell 
unconscious into the arms of one of his couriers, Drury L. Armistead. When he regained 
consciousness he found that his sword and pistols were gone. 'The sword was worn by 
my father in the Revolutionary War,' he said, 'and I would not lose it for ten thousand 
dollars; will not someone please go back and get it and my pistols for me?' Armistead 
returned to the field, found them and carried them safely off through a storm of artillery, 
receiving one of the pistols as a token of the gratitude of the wounded chief. * * * 

"This battle brought the war closer to me than any other had yet done. The school 
had closed and my vacation was just beginning. * * * The library and parlors of the 
beautiful home of my friends had been given up for the comfort of the wounded soldiers. 
The city was in tears; the horrors of war had become a reality. Busy, bustling, sad enough 
scenes were being enacted on every side. New regiments from the far South had just 
arrived and were marching through the streets, cheering and waving their hats as they 
passed. Batteries of artillery were hurrying along the thoroughfares, all going toward 
the front, down Main and Broad streets, into the Williamsburg road. Long lines of 
ambulances coming from the opposite way toiled slowly along, filled with the wounded 
from the battlefield who were being carried to the various hospitals, the long, torturing 
way marked by the trail of blood that oozed drop by drop from human veins. Here and 
there might be seen a wagon load of dead, piled one upon another, their stiffened, rigid 
feet exposed to view, showing to the horrified spectators that for just so many the cares 
and sorrows of this life, its pains and miseries, were passed forever. Every vehicle of any 
description was utilized and crowded to its utmost capacity. The less severely wounded 
were made to walk, and long lines of them could be seen hobbling along the street, their 
wounds bound up in bloody rags. The citizens turned out in full force and did all in their 
power to alleviate the sufferings of the soldiers. Not a home in all the city where some 
wounded were not taken to be nursed with the tenderest care. Every possible space, parlors, 
passages and chambers were converted into temporary hospitals, and everything done that 
unwearied nursing and gentlest attention could devise, and that for the roughest soldier in 
the ranks, as readily as for the general who wore the stars. Women stood before their 
doors with wine and food, ministering it unsparingly to the wounded going by. * * * 
This battle had thrilled the city to its center. Richmond authorities were unprepared for 
so extraordinary a call upon their accommodations. Buildings were hastily fitted up with 
the barest of comforts; medical and all other stores were inadequate to the demand. The 
doctors were employed day and night. The women, young and old, volunteered their serv- 
ices as nurses. In every house soups and other delicacies were made for the wounded. 
Though much suffering was in a measure mitigated, many a precious life, which otherwise 
might have been saved, was lost for want of ordinary attention. For days and nights 
wagons and ambulances never ceased to empty their wretched loads before the doors of 
each of these hastily improvised hospitals until the building overflowed with maimed 
humanity. There was not an empty store in which rude pallets were not strewn over the 
floor and counter. In the dressing of the wounds— rough it must have seemed, in spite of 
every effort to make it gentle— the racking of quivering nerves passed all bounds of patient 
endurance. Screams of agony would sometimes break out upon the open air with starthng 
emphasis. Here was a poor fellow being taken from an ambulance, with an arm shot 
nearly off that needed only the knife to finish the work; another with a mangled leg. It 



254 CASEY'S DIVISION 

were better to look away from such a piteous spectacle. Here a boy with his face so torn 
by a shell that his mother would not have recognized him, and there, a dying soldier, his 
countenance already pallid in the fast-coming chill of death. 'And this one is dead ; died 
on the way,' they said as they lifted a corpse from the wagon, while the passer by, grown 
rapidly familiar with such fearful sights, glanced hastily and passed on. So the long 
procession of wounded, nearly five thousand, young boys, middle-aged! and white-haired 
men, from the private to the highest ranks, hurt in every conceivable manner, suffering in 
every way, parched fererish, agonized, wearing a look of mute agony no words may 
describe or else lapsed into a fortunate unconsciousness, wended their way to the hospitals. 
There went men from every state, pouring out blood like water and offering up lives of 
sacrifice for the cause they had espoused. No city in the world was sadder than our 
Richmond in those days. All the miseries and woes of Seven Pines had been emptied into 
her fair homes and streets. She had 'no language but a cry,' an exceedingly bitter cry, 
that rose in its might to God on high 'if the heavens were not brass.' As you walked the 
streets some scene to make the heart ache would be enacted before your eyes. The 
dreaded ambulance might draw up before some residence whose doors would open to 
receive a burden borne in tenderly, brother, son or husband. There would gather hastily on 
the steps members of the family to receive him dead or hurt. From some wife, sister or 
mother you heard words of tenderest meaning, or bitterest weeping, or scream of agony 
as you passed along; or it might be that you caught only a look of mute despair as if she 
had turned to stone, for we receive such things differently, we women. Black waved its 
signal from door to door. It was no unusual thing to see four or five funeral processions 
at the same time on their way to the City of the Dead. People realized with a sudden 
shock the actualities of an internecine strife; it was brought to their very doors. Before 
they had seen only its pride and pomp, and its martial showing. They had heard only 
the rattling of artillery over stony streets and the tread of passing columns. All at once, 
with the sound of hostile guns, gaunt, grim-visaged war touched their hearts and sickened 
their souls with horror. It rendered them more determined, more earnest, more sincere. 
It made them feel that it was time to perform their part of the great tragedy and not waste 
the hours in light comedy, vain regrets or childish longings. In one day Richmond was 
changed from a mirth-loving, pleasure-seeking place, into a city of resolute men and women 
nerved to make any sacrifice for their cause." 

Letter to Gen. Casey from Col. I. A. Simpson : 

Cincinnati, O., March 4, 1863. 
"Gen. Silas Casey, 

Washington, D. C 
Dear General : 

When in Washington you expressed a wish that I should communicate in writing 
what I then told you was the estimate by officers of the Confederate service engaged in the 
battle of Fair Oaks, of your conduct and that of your troops on that occasion. I therefore 
again state that while a prisoner in Richmond I met Confederate officers who expressed their 
surprise that any censure should have been cast upon you or your troops for the part they 
bore in that battle. That so far from the troops under your command having acted badly, 
they behaved nobly, and resisted with admirable obstinacy an overwhelming attack ; and that 
this was the opinion of the Confederate officers generally who participated in the fight. 

Very truly yours, 

I. A. Simpson, 
Major Topographical Eng^ineers, late Colonel Fourth New Jersey Volunteers." 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 255 

THE BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 

Death of Lieutenant-Commander Flusser — Sinking of the Southfield— 
Capitulation of Gen. Wessells' Command — Biogr.\phical Sketches 
OF Lieut. Com, Flusser and Brig. Gen. Wessells. 

The battle of Plymouth resulting in the capture of nearly all the troops under Gen 
Wessell's command proved more disastrous to the 103d Regiment than all its previous 
service. Nine companies of the Regiment were captured in this battle and fully 50 per cent 
of those made prisoners died as a result of confinement in Southern prisons. 

By General Orders, No. 62, issued by the general commanding the 18th Army Corps, 
dated April 22, 1863, the Department of North Carolina was divided into three districts! 
The Second, then designated the District of the Albemarle (soon thereafter known as the 
Sub-District of the Albemarle), embraced Plymouth, Roanoke Island and such other posts 
as might be established from time to time in the territory bordering or contiguous to Albe- 
marle sound. The command of this district was assigned to Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells with 
headquarters at Plymouth. Although Gen. Wessell's command had embraced more' than 
his old brigade, and the latter had been commanded by others, yet it was always regarded 
as Wessell's brigade, and when the general moved his headquarters to Plymouth he took 
his brigade with him. On August 31, 1863, the troops in the Sub-District of the Albemarle 
comprised the 85th, 92d and 96th New York Vols., and the 101st and 103d Penna Regiments' 
these being known as the First Brigade, commanded by Col. T. F. Lehmann, and a company 
of the r2th New York Cavalry and a battery of artillery— 24th New York; the two latter, 
not being brigaded, taking their orders direct from the commanding general of the district' 
The original Keim's brigade, which was intact when Gen. Wessells assumed command com- 
prised the 85th, 101st, and 103d Penna., and 96th New York. The 85th Penna.' was 
detached from the brigade shortly after the Goldsboro expedition, much to the regret of 
the comrades of the other regiments, as it was regarded as the peer of any regiment in the 
service, and it was the general opinion of the men who had participated in the battle of 
Kinston that its commanding officer, Col. Howell, should have been promoted to briga- 
dier general rather than Gen. Hunt ; surely so. if gallantry and coolness in action deserved 
recognition. 

When Wessell's brigade arrived at Plymouth there were less than five hundred inhab- 
itants not connected with the army and na%T, a majority of whom were negroes \ line 
c \"*''«"chments, only partially completed, extended around the southern and western' limits 
ot the town, the eastern limits depending on the gunboats for defense. There were two 
reasons for this: First, the garrison was too meager to man intrenchments around the 
entire town; second, the eastern border of the town was a wooded swamp regarded a^ 
almost impenetrable by troops. The river bordered the north side of the town and the 
opposite land being a marshy island, the gunboats of the navy afforded ample protection 

.n^"^llf5 TT-^- Jliri'v ""^" °^ -^^S""" °^ ^"^'"^« ^'^^ ^ ^^'Sc earthwork, not quite 
completed, called Fort Williams, mounting four 32-pound guns and two 6-pound brass pieces 
^ort Wnhams was named after Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams, the first general officer who 
had commanded in the Department of North Carolina to be killed in battle He fell in 
action at Baton Rouge, La., August 5, 1862. ' 

Plj-mouth is situated on the south bank of the Roanoke river, a tributary of the Albe- 
marle sound, about eight miles from the mouth of the river. The history- of PlymoKh 
ante-dates the Revolutionary War. A descriptive write-up of the town by Edward L Conn 
which appeared in the Raleigh News and Observer, in its issue of June 11 1909 gives the 
following account of its founding and growth, its prosperity and depression and the 
ups and downs it experienced during the Civil War : 

"Engirt by the two principal railroads of northeastern Carolina with the waves of the 
historic Roanoke kissing her feet, Plymouth, century old, and Phoenix-like twice risen from 
her own ashes * * * is the synonym of opportunity. * * * The present site of the 
town was estabhshed in 1780, consisting of 100 acres, divided into 172 lots. * * * \fter 
the Revolutionary War Plymouth quickly built up a large coastwise trade in naval stores 
ship timber, such as masts and spars; juniper and cypress shingles, cooperage material and 
tarm products. * * * Washington county was taken from the territory of Tyrrell in 



256 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

1799, and Plymouth became the county seat in about that time. Plymouth was incorporated 
Dec. 17, 1807. * * * As early as 1820 Plymouth had more tonnage than any other town 
in Eastern Carolina. In those days it was not an uncommon sight to witness two hundred 
sailing vessels on the river, and as late as 1860 the importance of the town as a great trading 
and shipping point was maintained. After the war the customs house was transferred to 
Edenton, and later to Elizabeth City. As late as the seventies steamers were operated from 
this town to Norfolk and Baltimore. Schooners drawing twenty feet of water can navigate 
the Roanoke even above Plymouth. If as a mart of trade Plymouth had won distinction, 
she was destined to become much more famous for her. sufferings and dire misfortunes. 
The beginning of the Civil War found her people animated by a devotion to the Southland 
that prompted any sacrifice for the protection of their liberties. Under the brave leader- 
ship of Maj. L. C. Latham a company of 152 strong, joined the First Regiment of North 
Carolina State troops which was organized at the race track, near Warrenton, in the spring 
of 1861. When on the eighth day of February, 1862, Burnside captured Roanoke Island, 
Gen. David Clark assembled the militia of several adjoining counties at Plymouth, forming 
a quite formidable army in numbers, thus attracting the attention of the Federal authorities 
to Plymouth at the very outset of active hostilities. Later Gen. Clark withdrew to Williams- 
ton, and Federal soldiers occupied the town in comparative peace until the morning of Dec. 10, 
1862, when Col. John C. Lamb, with his regiment [17th N. C] and the assistance of one 
company of infantry, one of cavalry and a battery of artillery, surprised the garrison at 
day break, capturing a number of prisoners and more stores and munitions of war than 
they could get away with. This fight occurred in the streets of the town, the defenders 
using the dwellings and customs house as screens from the hail of bullets poured upon them 
by their fearless assailants. The gunboats in the river opened fire on the town at short 
range, setting fire to the buildings, and when the conflict had terminated scarcely a dozen 
were left standing within the corporate limits. And for a long period after this every few 
years Plymouth suffered a disastrous fire. Col. Lamb and his little army not being able to 
drive off the gunboats in the river, withdrew from the town, and the Federal authorities 
immediately undertook its fortification. They made fruitful use of their time for a year 
or more, building forts, erecting breastworks and cutting away the forest growth near the 
town." 

At the time of the above raid on Plymouth, it was garrisoned by Co. I 3d Mass. 
Infantry (Nine months men) and Co. C 1st North Carolina Infantry, and a company oi 
the 1st North Carolina Cavalry, in all, a force not much over 200, commanded by Capt. 
Barnabas Ewer, Jr., of the 3d Mass. Regiment. 

From the time Gen. Wessells had assumed command of the District of the Albemarle, 
with headquarters at Plymouth, minor changes had been made in the garrison from time to 
time. The general was always on the alert to know what the enemy was doing, and he 
became firmly convinced, from the information he had secured from trustworthy sources, 
that the adversary was Hable to pounce on him at any moment, and he realized, when he 
came, it would be in overwhelming force. For a year the enemy had been constructing a 
formidable iron-clad vessel, above Plymouth on the Roanoke river, at Edwards Ferry, within 
less than a day's journey, when aided by the swift current of the Roanoke. 

On Feb. 4, he notified his superior officers that a formidable expedition was in prepara- 
tion by the enemy with the object of recovering possession of the Roanoke river, and 
requesting that re-enforcements be sent to Plymouth. On Feb. 7, he again wrote to the 
commanding general at NewBern'as follows: 

"I believe it is perfectly reliable to state that a naval brigade has been organized in 
Richmond for the purpose of operating in these sounds and tributary rivers, and that they 
may be heard from any moment. * * * but as it is better to prevent than to invite an 
attack on a small force, I request reinforcements, 3,000 effective men, until the emergency 
has passed, or till the designs of the enemy are fully developed." (O. R. Ser. 1, Vol. XXXIII, 
pages 537-538.) 

Repeating this request on Feb. 10, he said : 

"The State of North Carolina is of infinite importance to both hostile parties, and as 
the points occupied are so weak as to be harassed at any moment with impunity, I feel, 
justified in repeating my request for re-enforcement, as I desire to have it on record." 
(O. R. Series 1, Vol. XXXIII, page 551.) 

Subsequent to this he frequently reported to his superiors in command that the indica- 
tions were that Plymouth would be attacked in force and that his command was inadequate 
to successfully defend the place. Both Gen. Peck, commanding the Department of North 
Carolina, and Gen. Butler, commanding the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, 




MAP OF 

April 17- 20, 1864. 
By Capt R. D. Graham, 56tt> Big . N. C. S. T. 

Afier Original by Solon E. All is, 21^ Reg. Mass.V. Militia , 

Ocfob&r, 1662. 

Ana Comments of W. M. Bateman, Superior Court C/erk. , 

1901. 

SCALE OF FEET. 
500 1000 1500 20O0 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 257 

treated his warnings and requests as of no particular moment. Under date of Feb. 20th, 
Gen. Butler wrote to General Peck, saying: 

"I believe PljTnouth is as safe as Fortress Monroe provided you keep from being 
surprised." On March 20, in a letter to Gen. Wessells, Gen. Peck said: 

"Without a naval force they might as well attack Fort Monroe. Demonstrations may 
be made, but no serious operations." 

Within four days of the attack on Plymouth, April 13, at 5 P. M., having received 
information from several disconnected sources that the enemy was assembling on the 
Roanoke river in force and in conjunction with an iron-clad boat, that an attack was to be 
made on his command within the week, he again wrote to Gen. Peck, sending a copy of this 
letter direct to department headquarters at Fortress Monroe, as follows : 

"At all events I do not feel disposed to neglect their warnings, and in view of their 
importance I request a temporary reinforcement of 5,000 men. The presence of the gun- 
boat, Com. Perry, now I believe in James River, would, I think, put a stop to any further 
threats from the iron-clad above us on the river. I should regret making any report not 
justified by future events,' but must depend upon the best information within my reach, and 
there is too much at stake to neglect any reasonable warning." (O. R., Ser. I, Vol XXX, 
p. 28L) 

To this request Gen. Peck replied in part as follows: 

"This is the time in April for rebel demonstrations in North Carolina, just in advance 
of the opening campaign in Virginia. Have they as many available troops in North Carolina 
as in .\pri] of 1863, when Longstreet made feints in order to deceive me and take my forces 
at Suffolk? Would not heavy detachments now endanger the operation of Lee? Under 
all the circumstances I think their demonstrations will be light." (O. R. Ser L Vol XXXHI 
p. 877.) V . , 

The troops in the garrison of Plymouth, April 17, 1864, were composed as follows: 
85th New York Vols., Col. E. H. Fardella, 450 men ; nine companies 16th Conn. Vols., Col. 
Francis Beach, 400 men; nine companies 101st Penna. Vols., Lieut. Col. A. W. Taylor, 300 
men; nine companies 103d Penna. Vols., Col. T. F. Lehmann, 464 men; Companies G and 
H, 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, Capt. Ira B. Sampson, 200 men; Companies B and E, 2d 
North Carolina, Capts. Johnson and Haggard, 150 men; 24th New York Independent Bat- 
tery, Capt. Cody, 100 men; detachments from Companies A and F, 12th New York Cavalry, 
Capt. Charles H. Roche, 100 men ; unattached recruits, including negroes that had been 
enlisted at Plymouth, 200 men, aggregating 2,300 effective men. A glance at the fortifica- 
tions surrounding Plymouth will show that this force was inadequate for a successful 
defense from an overwhelming attack. 

Three roads approach Plymouth, one from the southwest, known as the Washington 
road, entering the town at the southwest corner; one from the south, known as the Lee's 
Mills road, or Acre road, entering the town almost in the direct center, being a continuation 
of Washington street, and the Columbia road, which approaches the town from 
the east, almost perpendicularly to the Lee's Mills road. Above Plymouth and west 
of it, there are two creeks emptying into Roanoke river, the land between them 
being known as Warrens Neck. Between this inland peninsula and the upper 
or western border of Plymouth was a woody marsh, extending from the river for two or 
three miles southwest. Immediately above the town, and just outside of the fortifications 
was a morass extending around to the southwest corner to within one hundred and fifty 
yards of the Washington road where it entered the town. A little over a half mile beyond 
the southeast border of Plymouth, running in a southeasterly direction and flowing into the 
Roanoke river, about a mile below the town, is Coneby creek. This creek was bordered on 
the north and west by a deep, woody swamp, regarded as almost impassable, reaching 
almost to the town at the extreme southeastern limits. About 200 yards south of the town 
limits and about 100 yards north of the Columbia road, extending north to the river, was a 
miry swamp from one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards in breadth, regarded as 
impassable. 

Two miles above the town, on Warrens Neck, on the south bank of the Roanoke 
river, was erected a formidable earthwork, called Fort Gray, named in memory of the 



258 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

intrepid Col Gray of the 96th New York Vols., who was killed at the Kinston bridge Dec. 
14, 1862. A half mile southwest of the town, on Sanderson's farm between Fort Gray and 
the Washington road, and, like Fort Gray, completely isolated from the other fortifications, 
a small earthwork was erected, called Fort Wessells, generally known as the 85th Redoubt, 
after a detachment of the regiment which erected and garrisoned it. Close to the town 
limits, extending from the river above the town around to the southeast corner of the town, 
was a continuous line of breastworks, interrupted only by Fort Williams, the center of the 
line of fortifications on the south side of rhe town. The fortifications below the town, on 
the west side, were not continuous, due to the swampy condition of the ground. 

Close to the town limits between Third and Fourth streets on Latham's farm, was an 
earthwork, called Coneby Redoubt. Four hundred yards in advance of Coneby Redoubt, on 
Bateman's farm, was another earthwork bordering on the Columbia road, on both sides, 
and north of this work, midway between the Columbia road and the miry swamp that 
bordered on the river, was another redoubt called Fort Comfort. Inside the breastworks, 
on the bank of the river on the west side of the town, an earthwork was erected, called 
Battery Worth, in which a 200-pound rifled gun had been mounted, for the special purpose 
of commanding the river, and sinking the enemy's armored vessel, should it come in range. 

The chief reason for Gen. Wessells' superior officers' faith in this small command 
being able to defend the town was due to the protection afforded the flanks by the gun- 
boats. A small fleet, composed of four gunboats, under the command of Lieut. Com. C. W. 
Flusser, was co-operating with Gen. Wessells in the defense of Plymouth. This fleet con- 
sisted of the following vessels : Miami, commanded by one of the most gallant officers of 
the navy, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser; Southfield, commanded by Acting 
Volunteer Lieutenant Charles A. French; Whitehead, commanded by Acting Ensign George 
W. Barrett; Ceres, commanded by Acting Master Henry H. Foster, and an army transport. 
Bombshell, commanded by Acting Ensign Thomas B. Stokes. 

The Miami carried six 9-inch guns, one 100-Parrott rifle, and one 24-pounder smooth- 
bore howitzer ; the Southfield, which had formerly been a ferry boat at New York or Phila- 
delphia, carried five 9-inch Dahlgren guns, one 100-pounder Parrott, and one 12-pounder 
howitzer; the Whitehead and Ceres carried several 20-pound Parrott guns and howitzers. 

The 17th of April, 1864, was an ideal spring day, being neither too warm nor too 
cool for comfort. The enlisted men of Wessells' brigade had one topic as the chief subject 
of discussion — when they would start homeward to visit the loved ones they had not seen 
for more than two years. More than two-thirds of the 101st and 103d Penna. Regiments 
had re-enlisted nearly four months before this, one of the conditions as they understood 
the re-enlistment to be, a thirty days' furlough within sixty days of the date of re-enlist- 
ment. Only a week before the following order had been read to the 101st and 103d Regiments : 

Headquarters Sub-District of the Albemarle, Plymouth, N. C, April 9, 1864. 
General Order, No. 23 : 

In accordance with directions from the commanding general of the army and District 
of North CaroHna, the following from Maj. Gen. Butler, commanding Department of 
Virginia and North Carolina, is published for the information of the Veteran Volunteers of 
this command : 

"The paymaster has been ordered down to pay these troops. The continued threat- 
ening of the enemy has rendered it impossible to give them the furloughs which it is the 
desire of the commanding general they should have; but the time they have been delayed he 
will endeavor to make up to them by extra time at home." 

By command of Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells. 

D. F. Beegle, Lieut. A, D, C and A, A. A, G. 

The paymaster was prompt in making his visit in accordance with the promise in this 
order. The $100 bounty for the first enlistment, and the first installment of bounty on 
re-enlistment and several months' pay, had been drawn and held in possession by each one, 
in anticipation of this visit. New clothes had been secured and every member of the 
regiments who had Veteranized, was equipped with the finest uniform the Government 
furnished, each wanting to look his best when he returned among his friends. The less 
than three years that had elapsed since they had left their native state seemed like a decade. 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 259 

From raw, uncouth recruits they had become veterans more than in name. They felt that 
they were the peers of any men who wore the uniform of Uncle Sam, and they believed that 
the men who had worn this uniform with honor for years were superior to any other men 
on earth. They could hardly avoid giving evidence of superciliousness when thrown in 
contact with the ordinary citizen who had not seen service. The regular Sunday inspection 
required very little extra work, as everything was neat and trim in readiness for the order 
they expected to come by the arrival of the next boat from New Bern. The boys not on 
camp guard or picket duty were lolling in their tents awaiting the call for dress parade, 
writing letters home or discussing the contemplated visit. The anticipation of that visit is 
beyond description, even by one who experienced it. 

About four o'clock a few shots fired in rapid succession in advance of the picket line 
put every one on the qui vive to know what was to follow. Firing on the picket line in 
broad daylight was a more serious matter than after dark. In a few moments a cavalry 
vidette comes galloping in as though it were a matter of life or death with him. He never 
halts until he gets to Gen. Wessells' headquarters. Almost instantly a company of the 12th 
New York Cavalry, with Lieut. Russell in command, goes hurriedly to the front, but only 
to return in a few minutes as rapidly as it had gone out, bringing with it the commanding 
officer severely wounded. It was now apparent that this appearance of the enemy was more 
than the ordinary picket raid so frequently made on the Plj'mouth pickets. Co. G, 103d 
Penna., commanded by Capt. Morrow, and details from the other regiments, were sent out 
the Washington road, who were soon engaged with the enemy's skirmishers west of the 
road. Fort Wessells, Fort Williams and the 24th New York Battery shelled the woods on 
both sides of the Washington road, while the contest was waged between the skirmishers, 
which ceased when darkness came. A desultory exchange of shots continued between the 
skirmishers during the night, but nothing more than was to be expected from opposing 
skirmishers within a few yards of each other. 

The appearance of the enemy on the Washington road was soon followed by a heavy 
artillery assault on the isolated Fort Gray above the town. This was discontinued when 
darkness came. The garrison of Fort Gray made a vigorous response to the enemy's guns, 
and with the exception of a few casualties and the destruction of the flagstaff, which was 
shot away, received no damage. Gen. Wessells now felt that his forebodings were realized 
and that his little garrison was confronted by an overwhelming force. 

Maj. John W. Graham, 56th North Carolina Regiment, in the Fifth Volume of North 
Carolina Regiments, edited by Judge Walter Qark, now Chief Justice of North Carolina, 
gives an exhaustive description, from the Confederate side, of the assault on Plymouth, 
under the title of "The Capture of Plymouth." Of the Confederate force that participated, 
and the first day's demonstration, he says : 

The Confederate forces on this expedition under command of Brig. Gen. R. F. Hoke, 
were Kemper's (Virginia) brigade, under Col. Terry; Hoke's brigade, composed of the 21st 
Georgia, 6th, 21st, 43d and 54th North Carolina Reg'ts, under Col. Mercer, of the 21st 
Georgia, the senior colonel ; and Ransom's brigade, under Brig. Gen. M. W. Ransom, com- 
posed of the 24th, 25th, 56th, 8th, and 35th North Carolina Regiments. The 8th, which 
belonged to Clingman's brigade, had been temporarily substituted for the 49th, left on picket 
duty on the Chowan river. There were also a part of a regiment of cavalry under Col. 
Bearing, and several batteries of artillery, under Lieut. Col. Branch and Maj. Rcid, all from 
Virginia, except a section of Capt. Miller's (Co. E, 10th N. C. Regiment), Capt. Lee's 
Montgomery Blues, of Alabama, and Bradford's (Mississippi). * * * 

"The Confederate forces had been collected rapidly at Tarbaro, from which the 
expedition started on April 15, 1864, and arrived within five miles of Plymouth by 4 P. M. 
on Sunday, the 17th, capturing the pickets and routing a company of cavalrj'. The 1st 
Virginia Regiment, under Maj. Norton, was thrown forward as skirmishers, and Kemper's 
brigade, with Bearing's cavalry and two batteries of artillery under Maj. Reid, turned off 
on a road to the left leading to Warrens Neck, to threaten the town from that direction; 
and Gens. Hoke and Ransom, with their brigades, not following the direct road from 
Jamesville, as the bridge across the creek had been destroyed, turned to the right and, 
crossing the troops on a mill-dam, made a circuit around into the Washington road, a mile 
below its junction with the Jamesville road. Sending on a company of cavalry, two 
Yankees were killed of the picket at this post (Red Top), two only escaping. 

"Soon we hear the 'long roll' of the enemy, and our line is formed to receive a 



260 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

shelling. Gen. Hoke's brigade is some distance in advance and on both sides of the road, 
and Ransom's further to the right and along a road which goes perpendicular to the line 
of breastworks on the south of the town. Skirmishers are sent forward by both sides, the 
enemy also opening briskly with his artillery. Night soon comes on, and all is quiet on this 
part of the line except an occasional interchange of shots between the skirmishers." 

Capt. Robert D. Graham, in the history of his regiment (56th North Carolina), gives 
this preliminary description of the Plymouth Campaign : 

"14 April. The 24th, 2.5th and 56th N. C. State Troops, under Gen. M. W. Ransom, 
set out by rail and reported to Brig. Gen. R. F. Hoke at Tarbaro. The 49th was on outpost 
duty near Edenton, and its place was now supplied by the 8th from Clingman's brigade. 

"15 April. The column, consisting of Hoke's N. C. brigade, under Col. Mercer, of 
the 21st Ga. Regiment, which was then with it; Kemper's Virginia, under Col. Terry, and 
Ransom's N. C. brigade, with Pegram's battery, under Gen. Ransom; and Striblings', 
Graham's Virginia, Miller's, Moseley's and Reade's batteries of artillery, belonging to Col. 
Dearing's command, and Bearing's battalion of cavalry, took up the line of march against 
Plymouth. At Hamilton we were joined by the 35th N. C. Passing through Williamston 
and Jamesville, we reached the vicinity Sunday, the 17th, a little before nightfall. Imme- 
diately a strong line of skirmishers, including Co. I, of the 56th, was thrown out from 
Ransom's brigade, under Maj. Graham, and pushed forward nearly to the entrenchments. 
A picket post of 11 men was surprised, 9 captured, one killed and one escaped. A recon- 
noissance in force was made in front of Fort Gray, on Warrens Neck, between the mouths 
of two creeks emptying into the Roanoke, two miles west of Plymouth, and Bearing's 
artillery crippled one of the boats so that it sank on reaching the wharf. A redoubt was 
immediately begun on the Jamesville road leading south for our 32-pound Parrott gun. 
The iron-clad Albemarle, Capt. J. W. Cooke, was expected during the night. Fort Gray's 
armament was one 100-pounder and two 32-pounders." 

Gen. Wessells did not take any rest Sunday night until he had everything arranged 
for serious work, and every man who was on detailed duty that was not imperatively neces- 
sary was ordered into the ranks. He ordered all non-combatants, including women, children, 
contrabands, and sick, to leave for Roanoke Island on the steamer Massasoit, and made 
disposition of all the available troops who were not already assigned to some position along 
the fortifications. 

Lieut. Geo. S. Hastings of the 24th New York Battery, says of the departure of the 
Massasoit : 

"All night long the heavy music of artillery and the bustle of hostile preparations 
continued. About midnight the steamboat 'Massasoit' left us, carrying to a safer point the 
'impedimenta' of the garrison, consisting of women, children and the disabled. The writer 
still retams in vivid remembrance the hasty farewells then and there spoken (some of which 
were final), the pale faces of affrighted women and children, the groans of the sick and 
wounded and the bustle and confusion which, if reproduced, would form so striking and 
touching a picture of war. He well recollects how proudly the gallant Flusser, the lieutenant 
commander of the little fleet of gunboats guarding the waters of the Roanoke, paced the 
decks of the 'Massasoit' with brave words like these: 'Ladies, I have waited two long years 
for the rebel ram. The navy will do its duty. We shall sink, destroy or capture it, or find 
our graves in the Roanoke.' " 

Lieut. Com. Flusser made the following preliminary report of the events occurring 
on Sundav: 

U. S. S. Miami, Plymouth, N. C, April 17, 1864. 

Sir : The enemy are about town. They have fired on us to-day pretty lively. 

The Ceres (with her usual bad luck) had one killed and several wounded. I expect 
an attack about daylight to-morrow. I feel confident of success as far as we (the navy) are 
concerned. My plan of defense prevents me giving the army what aid I should wish before 
the ram is whipped. You need not be uneasy as to the result. I have written the admiral 
as I write you. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. W. Flusser, Lieutenant-Commander. 
Commander H. K. Bavenport, Senior Naval Officer, Sounds of N. C. 

(O. R., Naval Ser. I, Vol. IX, pp. 6^-635.) 

Acting Master Foster, comdg. the Ceres, reported the action of his vessel on the 17th, 
as follows: 

U. S. S. Ceres, Off New Bern, N. C, April 24, 1864. 

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report: While at Plymouth, N. C, on 
^e 17th instant, at 5:40 P. M., I was ordered by Lieutenant-Commander C. W. Flusser to 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 261 

proceed with the Ceres under my command to Broad Creek, Roanoke river, with dispatches 
for U. S. S. Whitehead. I immediately got under way. Before reaching the lower obstruc- 
tion near Fort Gray I observed a battery of six guns, apparently 20-pounders, on the port 
hand of the river, which opened fire upon us, striking vessel several times, destroying one of 
the boats and damaging the machinery, killing William Rose, first-class fireman; mortally 
wounding Samuel Pascall, ship's cook; dangerously wounding John Flynn, landsman; 
severely wounding George A. Dean, acting third assistant engineer; John Peterson, seaman; 
John Benson, landsman; and slightly wounding James B. Hopkins, acting master's mate; 
John A. Frank, acting third assistant engineer, and J. R. Sherwood, acting third assistant 
engineer. I returned their fire from the two 20-pounder Parrott guns of the Ceres, and at 
6 -30 P M communicated with the Wlutehead and delivered the dispatches. Got under way 
and proceeded down the river for Plymouth at 8:35 P. M. On getting in range of the 
battery above Fort Gray they again opened fire with artillery and musketry, doing no 
material damage. I returned the fire as we passed. I arrived alongside the Miami and 
reported to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant C. A. French. The surgeons of the Miami and 
Southfield came on board and attended the wounded. On the morning of the following 
day, by order of Lieutenant-Commander C. W. Flusser, I sent the bodies of W. Rose and 
S. Pascall on shore for interment, which I was unable to efifect (leaving them in the base- 
ment of the quartermaster's building at PljTnouth), as the services of the vessel were 
required. I also sent Mr. Dean, John Peterson, John Benson, and John Flynn to the post 
hospital. I was well pleased with the conduct of the officers and crew. The following 
amount of ordinance was expended, viz. : 14 5-seconds shells for 20-pounder Parrott and 14 
cylinders of 2 pounds of powder each for the same. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. H. Foster, Acting Master, Commanding. 
Commander H. K. Davenport, Senior Naval Officer, Sounds of N. C. 

(O. R.— Naval— Ser. I, Vol. IX, p. 635.) 

When the final disposition was made to repel the anticipated assault the troops were 
in position as follows : 

Two companies of the 85th New York Vols., and a detachment of the 2d Mass. 
Heavy Artillery in Fort Gray; Co. K, 85th New York, and a detachment of Co. H, 2d 
Mass. Heavy Artillery, commanded by Capt. Chapin, Co. K, 85th New York, in Fort Wes- 
sclls (redoubt) ; Companies E and G, 85th New York, on the extreme right, near Battery 
Worth ; a detail from 16th Conn., commanded by Lieut. Hoppin, having charge of the 200- 
pounder; North Carolina troops, negroes and refugees in the fortification on the west side 
of the town; 24th New York Independent Battery at the Washington road, with a detach- 
ment of the 85th New York at its left; the 103d Penna. in the center, with Co. A, commanded 
by Capt. A. H. Alexander, and a detachment of the 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, commanded 
by Capt. Sampson, garrisoning Fort Williams, and four companies on the right and four 
companies on the left of the fort. Holding the left were the 16th Conn. Vols, and the 101st 
Penna., on the extreme left, with detachments of the 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, in charge 
of the guns in the redoubts. 

The line of defense surrounding the town was divided into three nearly equal parts, 
the right commanded by Col. Fardella, the center by Col. Lehmann, and the left by Col. 
Beach. 

Anticipating a daybreak assault, every man was in position at three o'clock Monday 
morning, the 18th. Just as day began to dawn a terrific fire was opened on Fort Gray, 
■which was continued for several hours, and again resumed in the afternoon. The garrison 
responded to the guns of the enemy with great vigor, and received assistance from the 
200-pounder in Battery Worth, and from the gunboats. With the exception of several 
casualties, some of which were fatal, little damage was done to Fort Gray. The armed 
transport, Bombshell, in communicating with Fort Gray, received several shots below her 
-water line, being barely able to return to town, sinking immediately after reaching the 
wharf. The gunboat Ceres, being above Fort Gray, at the time of its investment, passed 
down the river under a destructive fire and rejoined the squadron with a loss of nine men 
Icilled and wounded. 

At eight o'clock Monday morning, Co. F, 103d Penna., commanded by Capt. Donaghy 
and Lieut. Chambers, relieved Co. G, on the skirmish line. During the entire day incessant 
skirmishing was maintained between the Washington and Lee's Mill roads, in front of the 
town, at a distance of 1,200 yards in front of Fort Williams. The enemy opened with a 



262 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

battery which was responded to from the 85th Redoubt, which in turn received some shells, 
but without much damage to the fort or to any of the inmates. Shortly after sunset the 
enemy advanced his batteries, supported by an overwhelming force of infantry, and appear- 
ances indicated a general attack. Our line of skirmishers fell back, firing, in good order, 
and the enemy, under cover of darkness, opened a furious cannonade upon the town in 
every direction. Fort Williams and the 24th New York Battery replied to this fire with 
great coolness and precision, inflicting heavy damage and loss upon the enemy. The gun- 
goats joined in the conflict and also did effective work. 

A most distressing accident occurred to one of the gunners of the 24th New York 
Battery during this action — Wilbur M. Hoyt — who was number one, and whose duty it was 
to use the swab and rammer. His piece had been firing with great deliberation and effect- 
iveness for some time, when orders were given to fire with more rapidity. As he was 
"ramming a shell home," No. 5, whose duty it was to keep the vent hole covered, became 
excited, and in turning around to give instruction concerning the ammunition, he uncovered 
the vent. A premature discharge immediately followed, and rammer, shell and all went 
through the arm of Hoyt. Otie arm was shot off, the other shattered, and his face and 
body blackened skin-deep with the burnt powder. He lingered, suffering greatly, until after 
Fort Williams surrendered, and died a prisoner of war, on April 26, and was buried at 
Pljmiouth. 

Capt. Donaghy's account of the skirmish on Monday, which follows, is quite interest- 
ing. He says : 

"Besides my own company, I had command of a detachment of the 85th New York, 
under Lieut. Andrews, which was posted to the right of the road, while my company was 
placed to the left. It was an all-day fight. Besides bullets, the enemy sent us numerous 
shells. Our line and that of the enemy were near enough to each other to exchange words 
as well as shots, and there was some amusing bantering indulged in, and early in the day 
the verbal hits were more numerous and telling than were the sanguinary ones. Zeal in 
the combatants was not wanting, but the bushes, stumps and fallen trees afforded good 
hiding places for the men of both sides. * * * When the men had nearly expended their 
ammunition I sent into camp and received a supply. Late in the afternoon the enemy in 
our front strengthened their line, causing us to expect an attack in force. I deployed my 
reserve as skirmishers some distance to the rear of the first line, and instructed the first 
line that if the enemy advanced they were to fall back to the reserve, firing as they did so. 
Shortly before sunset Sergt. Graham halloed to me from the front, 'Captain, they are 
coming!' 'All right. Sergeant!' I replied, 'You know what to do.' The firing opened noisily 
and the line came back in good order to the reserve, where it halted. The two Hnes, united, 
fired so effectively that the enemy ceased to advance. Then seeing that the ground in front 
of us was rather high, I moved my line forward, the men cheering as they advanced, to a 
position that enabled them to fire over the ridge. They behaved well, none but the wounded 
leaving the line, and they first asking permission. Some reported that they were out of 
ammunition, and I ordered such to fix their bayonets and keep their places. After a while 
a cry of 'We are flanked!' came from the left, and on looking in that direction I saw that 
the enemy's line was on the prolongation of our own, but facing the other way, firing in 
towards the works, the pickets in their front having gone in. 

"Fort Williams had now opened its thunder and the enemy's shot and shell were 
screaming over us. We, as skirmishers, had fulfilled our task, and I gave an order not laid 
down in the tactics book — 'Now, boys, you have done well. Get back into the works as 
quick as you can' — and we ran back every man for himself. As I ran in the road I saw my 
first lieutenant a short distance ahead, and I halloed, 'Hold on, Jim; I'm going, too.' As he 
turned to wait for me a bullet went through his hand. He became faint and unsteady on 
his feet and I took his other hand upon my shoulder and helped him along. We came into 
the works at a point to the right of the fort, where there was posted a company of colored 
soldiers who had been recruited in North Carolina; their dark, eager faces looking over 
their gleaming bayonets made a striking picture. I saluted them with the words of a camp 
song of that time — 'Look out, dar, now, for we's gwan to shoot' — and they grinned in 
appreciation. As Jim and I came down from the parapet some one in the 85th New York 
cried out, 'Three cheers for the captain !' and they were given heartily, and I gratefully, 
but mutely, acknowledged them. I was afterwards told that their commander, Col. Fardclla, 
a veteran of other wars, had expressed great admiration of the fighting of our skirmishers. 

"The enemy advanced their lines, and kept up a furious bombardment, which was 
replied to vigorously by our artillery. The sun went down and the moon came up on the 
scene of strife. Our artillery poured forth a destructive fire of shell, which lighted up the 
places of their explosion and showed us some of the havoc they inflicted. Caissons were 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 263 

blown up, and in the fiery flashes could be seen man and horses thrown about. Our muskets 
were not used, for we expected an assault and kept our fire in reserve. This duel lasted 
about two hours. The enemy retired and we lay down to sleep confident of our ability to 
hold out against them, but before morning our hopes were greatly shaken." 

Lieut. Geo. S. Hastings says of this attack: 

"On the following day the enemy maintained a steady though ineffective fije upon 
our redoubts until evening when they assumed a vigorous offensive. During the afternoon 
our skirmish lines had been busily employed in the dangerous exercise of giving and taking 
powder and ball. About five o'clock, however, the enemy advanced in force along our 
entire front. Our men fell back in excellent order, keepmg up a sharp fire against the solid 
line of rebels Behind this dense curtain of infantry, their artillery, consisting of about 
forty pieces, was advanced to a line about 800 yards from our outer works; then, rapidly 
taking position, their guns were served with terrific rapidity and precision. Our artillery 
responded deliberately and with fearful certainty, silencing the guns of the enemy and 
sending destruction into their ranks. So exact was our range that m some instances a single 
shot disabled the rebel piece which had invited the salute. For nearly an hour this duel of 
artillery continued, the heavy ordnance of the gunboats adding their thunder-tones to the 
chorus of death. As the fierceness of the attack subsided, the shrieks of the wounded and 
dying could distinctly be heard above the din of battle. The rebel infantry, which had been 
lying down during the heavy fire, must have suffered severely from our shells, and wc 
believed that half at least of their artiller>-men were put out of the fight. A rebel officer 
was heard to exclaim: 'It is of no use; we cannot endure this fire.' And so their troops 
were withdrawn." 

Lieut. Com. Flusser made two reports of the action of the gunboats on Monday as 

follows : 

U. S. S. Miami, Plymouth, N. C, April 18, 1864. 

Sir: We have been fighting here all day. About sunset the enemy made a genera] 
advance along our whole line. They have been repulsed. There is no firing now, 9:30 P. M. 
I am fearful our upper fort may be gone, but do not know anything certain about it. The 
85th Redoubt repulsed three severe assaults, but the enemy still occupy a position near it. 

The ram will be down to-night or to-morrow. I fear, for the protection of the town, 
I shall have to abandon my plan of fighting the ram, lashed to the Southfield. 

The army ought to be re-enforced at once. I think I have force enough to whip the 
ram, but not sufficient to assist in holding the town, as I should like. I to-day gave to Fort 
Gray 100 projectiles for Parrott 100-pounder rifle. If the enemy should make frequent 
assaults I shall need a large supply of powder and projectiles for 100-pounder Parrott, 
IX-inch Dahlgren, 24-pounder howitzers, and for the Ceres four 20-pounder Parrott rifles. 

If we whip the ram the land force may retire. I have not heard of any casualties. 
In the action yesterday the Ceres had 2 men killed and 7 wounded. Of the latter, four 
were officers, fortunately but one of them seriously hurt. Reports of killed and wounded 
will be forwarded at once, so soon as time is had to make them out. At present we are 
very busy, and the mail boat leaves in a few minutes. * * * 

C. W. Flusser, Lieut. Cora. 
Acting Rear Admiral S P. Lee, Comdg. North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, off Newport 
News. (O. R— Naval— Ser. I, Vol. IX, pp. 636-637.) 

U. S. S. Miami, Plymouth, N. C, April 18, 1864. 

My Dear Davenport : The army has been engaged with the enemy off and on all day. 
About sunset the rebs advanced along our whole line, but were driven back. They were 
obstinate and continued to fight till near 9 o'clock. The Southfield and Miami took part and 
the general says our firing was admirable. I am fearful for Fort Gray. The enemy has 
established a battery of long range guns above it, with which they would sink all our boats 
if we went near enough to the fort to fire grape and canister into the enemy's infantry. 
They sank the army steamer Bombshell to-day, temporarily under command of Ensign 
Stokes, who fought her well. * * * 

The ram will be down to-night or to-morrow. She was, just after daylight this 
morning, foul of a tree 6 miles above Williamston. I think, if she does not stay under 
cover of' their battery established above Fort Gray, that we shall whip her. I had to destroy 
the obstruction in the Thoroughfare, as the Whitehead was above and could not run by the 
battery placed below her on the Roanoke. I have written the Admiral. The 85th Redoubt 
repulsed three obstinate assaults, but the enemy remain near it. In great haste, 

C. W. FLUSSE31, 

Commander H. K Davenport. (O. R.— Nav-al— Ser. I, Vol. IX, p. 637.) 

The above communication to Commander Davenport is probably the last dispatch 
penned by Capt. Flusser. It was evidently written after he had prepared his preliminary 
report to Admiral Lee, written after the hostilities had ceased on the 18th, which must have 
been nearly ten o'clock. Before daybreak he was dead. 



264 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Finding Fort Williams and its wings impregnable from this line of attack, the enemy- 
concentrated his attention on Fort Wessells [85th Redoubt]. The garrison of this isolated 
earthwork made a gallant resistance against fearful odds. Again and again the enemy- 
charged and was repelled with hand grenades. Although the total force defending this 
redoubt was 69 men, 26 prisoners were taken from the enemy before it capitulated, shortly 
after 11 P. M., but not until its commander, Capt. Chapin, had received a mortal wound. 

On the following morning, Tuesday, April 19, at three o'clock, the enemy again 
opened fire on Fort Gray. This fire was to divert the attention of the fort from the river, 
for during its continuance the iron-clad ram x\lbemarle passed down unnoticed and unin- 
jured. The 200-pounder in Battery Worth, whose special function -was to take care of this 
ram, not firing a shot at her until after she had played havoc with the naval squadron. 
Capt. Flusser, having been apprised of her approach, had preparations ready for her recep- 
tion. He had his vessel, the Miami, and the Southfield lashed together with long spars, and 
with chains festooned between them. He planned to get the Albemarle between these two 
boats and hold her there. 

As if anticipating such an attack, the commander of the ram kept her close to the 
northern shore until within a short distance of these two vessels, and then suddenly turning 
toward the middle of the stream, and going with the current, he dashed the prow of the 
Albemarle into the side of the Southfield. The chain plates on the Albemarle became 
entangled in the frame of the Southfield and held her there. The prow of the ram had 
made an immense opening in the wooden vessel and it was rapidly filling with water and 
sinking. As it went down it carried the bow of the Albemarle with it to such a depth that 
water poured into her portholes, in great volume, and she would have gone down with the 
Southfield had not the latter vessel reached the bottom and then, turning over on her side, 
released the ram, thus allowing her to come up on an even keel. The Miami, right along- 
side, had opened fire with her heavy guns, and so close were the vessels together that a 
shell with a ten-second fuse, fired by Capt. Flusser, after striking the Albemarle, rebounded 
and exploded, killing the gallant man who had pulled the laniard, terribly mangling his 
body. Notwithstanding the death of Flusser, an attempt was made to board the ram, but 
was successfully resisted, and the Miami succeeded in dropping down the stream without 
receiving any damage. When the Southfield went down she took part of her crew with 
her. Of the oflFicers and men of the Southfield, seven of the former, including Lieut. French, 
her commander, and 42 of her men, were rescued by the Miami and the other Union vessels. 
The others were either captured or drowned. 

The death of the gallant Flusser and the success of the Albemarle in sinking the 
Southfield and driving the other vessels out of the river, following so closely the fall of 
85th Redoubt, had a very dispiriting effect on the troops. The Albemarle had complete 
possession of the river and that left the town practically surrounded by the enemy. The 
men lost no time in erecting traverses, covered excavations, and embankments to the rear, 
which afforded shelter under heavy fire. During the day (Tuesday, the 19th) the enemy 
planted a battery near the 85th Redoubt and, partly covered by that work, opened fire upon 
•the town. The ram Albemarle also opened from below; both were returned from Fort 
Williams and Battery Worth, but without effect. The enemy was very active, moving in 
■different directions, withdrawing most of his forces from the vicinity of Fort Gray, and 
apparently making a serious demonstration from the direction of the captured redoubt. 
The skirmishers were pushed close to the works and were actively engaged, and many 
casualties occurred on both sides, the loss of the enemy being much the heaviest. Darkness 
brought an end of the skirmishing, but not to the activity of the enemy. During the night 
he effected a crossing over Coneby creek, where it is crossed by the Columbia road, the 
main approach to the town from the east. In his official report of the battle, Gen. Wessells 
speaks of this occurrence as an unexpected disaster and that he regarded the position as 
now quite critical. Coneby creek was not a fordable stream, at this time, as the water was 
unusually high, and the bridge having been destroyed at this point. Gen. Wessells evidently 
felt that he had sufficient force in that direction to repel any attack the enemy was likely 
to make that night until he could send re-enforcements from some other point along the 



BATTLE OF PLYxMOUTH. 265 

line of battle. The continued demonstrations of the enemy on his right and center did not 
justify him in weakening his line at these points until it became absolutely necessary. 
Lieut. Hastings, of the 24th New York Battery, says of this attack: 

"About midnight of Tuesday, April 19, in the teeth of a sharp and destructive fire, 
they laid their pontoons across a creek intersecting the open ground lying just east of our 
left line. Crossing with two brigades of infantry and several pieces of artillery, they 
formed a new and strong line of battle, the right of which rested upon the Roanoke and 
the left swerving around to our front. At the same lime, another force advanced against 
our right line. About three o'clock, on the morning of April 20th, the entire rebel force 
charged our extended and feeble lines, moving forward with loud and defiant yells. Largely 
outnumbering our exhausted garrison, they were able to make a vigorous onset upon every 
portion of the defenses, and at the same time to send an independent column along the 
banks of the river into the heart of the town. The pieces of the 24th New York Battery 
were served double shotted with canister, hurling disorder and death into the ranks of the 
enemy; and not until the rebels seized the muzzle of the guns did the cannoneers fail in 
their work." 

Second Lieut. B. F. Blakeslee, who has written a history of the 16th Conn. Vols., and 
whose company (G) was on skirmish line on the Columbia road, while giving a graphic 
description of the charge upon the fortifications on the left, omits any reference to the 
crossing of Coneby creek by the enemy. He says : 

"Late in the evening, Co. G was ordered to the left of the town on the Columbia 
road. The enemy meanwhile were concentrating nearly half their force opposite this point. 
By 4:30 o'clock on the morning of the 20th they had ten regiments of infantry, four 
battalions of artillery and two companies of cavalry, besides the Cotton Plant. This must 
have made a force of five or six thousand in line, about six hundred yards from our works. 
At this hour a rocket was sent up as the signal for the attack, and a more famous charge 
we never witnessed. Instantly over our heads came a peal of thunder from the ram. Up 
rose a curling wreath of smoke, the batteries had opened, and quickly flashed fierce sparks 
of flame — loud and earth-shaking roars in quick succession. Lines of men came forth 
from the woods — the battle had begun. Co. G, being on the skirmish line, fell back and 
entered Coneby Redoubt, properly barred the gate and manned the "works. The enemy, 
with yells, charged over the works in heavy column, jumped into the ditch, climbed the 
parapet and with the artillery company (who had previously occupied the redoubt), for 
fifteen murderous minutes were shot down like mown grass. The conflict was bloody, short 
and decisive. The enemy was in such numbers we had to yield. There were in the fort 
at the time forty artillery men who fired grape and canister and forty-two of Co. G, 16th 
Conn. ; total loss, 82. The enemy then passed in the rear and on the bank of the river, to 
the right of the town, and while part was on the right working towards the center, those 
on the left were doing the same. Every position was obstinately maintained. A squad of 
men here, and a squad there, the redoubts and forts were slowly captured. For three or 
four hours. Fort Williams, with guns turned, did murderous execution, nearly two hours of 
■which was in the streets of Plymouth." 

After the enemy had succeeded in capturing all the fortifications on the left of the 
town and Fort Gray, and Battery Worth on the right, and had formed a line of battle in 
rear of the fortifications on the center. Gen. Wessells ordered the infantry to leave the 
breastworks, in an endeavor to stay this advance on Fort Williams. This effect succeeded 
for a time, but to the men it seemed hopeless and futile, and they retired to the protection 
of their rear earthworks. Capt. Donaghy, speaking of this sortie, says: 

"The troops to the left of Fort Williams were ordered to unite in an effort to drive 
them out again. I called my company from the protection of the pits and bombproof and 
joined the others in the street leading back into the town. Lieut. Col. Maxwell was in 
command of our battalion. That we might face the enemy, he ordered us to change front 
forward on the left company. I led my company to the position desired, which was along 
a drain which would serve as a line of rifle pits. The rebels were pouring on us a severe 
fire from buildings, and from behind any object that would conceal them. We saw but few 
of them, though the whizzing balls and the white smoke from their weapons told us of their 
presence. As I stood on the flank of my company bringing it into line, a bullet went 
whizzing through the muscles of my thigh, giving me such a shock that I staggered and 
my sword dropped from my hand. Some of the men offered to assist me to the rear, but I 
declined their aid, sheathed my sword and limped back to the works, leaving Sergt. Arma- 
gost to command the company, which was bravely fighting. The ball that struck me went 
through the muscles of one thigh and slightly wounded the other, and then fell into my 
boot. It was soon seen that our men could accomplish nothing where they were, so they 



266 ■ 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

came back to the works. Three others of my company were wounded— Corp. Benjamin 
Mortimer, and Privates Reed and Boyle, the first mortally. He was one of our best men. 
He was carried into the bombproof on a stretcher. He looked at me and said reproachfully, 
'Oh, Captain! why did you take us out there?' The enemy drew closer and kept up a 
harassing fire which our men returned when they could see a human target. As there was 
no moving about to be done by the company, I was enabled to resume command." 

Gen. Hoke, commanding the Confederate forces, requested an interview with Gen. 
Wessells, which was granted, at which a surrender was demanded. He gave as reasons 
why the garrison should surrender: the untenable position; the impossibility of relief; and 
the honorable defense that had already been made. In failure of this indiscriminate slaugh- 
ter was intimated. The demand was refused, and preparations were made to renew the 
contest. The troops were completely enveloped on every side, Fort Williams in the center 
being the only hope. This was well understood by the enemy, and a cannonade of shot and 
shell was opened upon it from different directions. This terrible fire had to be endured 
without reply, as no man could live at the guns. The breast-height was struck by solid shot 
on every side; fragments of shell sought almost every interior angle of the work, the whole 
extent of the parapet was swept by musketry, and men were killed and wounded even on 
the banquette slope. A covered excavation had been previously constructed, to which the 
wounded were conveyed, where they received efficient medical attention. The commanding- 
general, realizing that this condition of aflfairs could not long be endured without a reckless 
sacrifice of life; that no relief could be expected, and in compliance with the earnest desire 
of every officer present, consented to hoist a white flag, and surrendered the remnant of his 
command, which included several companies of the 103d Penna. The surrender was made 
between ten and eleven o'clock, Wednesday, April 20, 1864. Capt. Donaghy says of the 
surrender : 

"We were now subjected to a most furious bombardment. It was a hopeless struggle, 
but our men kept firing bravely. The rebels were massing to the left and pressed so 
closely that the 101st Penna., that stood there, surrendered and marched out of the works 
prisoners of war. They were soon followed by the 16th Conn., then by Companies B and K, 
of our regiment. That left but Capt. Mackey's company and mine outside the fort on that 
side. Mackey came over into my works and advised that we too should surrender. I 
agreed with him that our case was hopeless, but told him I did not want to give up as long 
as the fort held out. He then declared he would go into the fort and persuade the general 
to surrender. I tried to dissuade him from the attempt, telling him that he would never 
reach the fort alive, as the ground was swept by sharpshooters, but he started and I 
expected to see him fall. He crossed the intervening space and disappeared around an angle 
of the fort. It was not long after Mackey left us till an enlisted man from within the fort 
mounted the parapet and waved as a flag of truce a white woolen shirt fastened to a 
musket. The garrison flag, which hung by the upper corner alone, was hauled down and 
we were prisoners of war." 

Of the final assault and capitulation of Fort Williams, Lieut. Hastings says : 

"For nearly two hours did the fight go on in the streets of Plymouth, our forces 
surrendering only under stern military necessity and in small detachments. Fort Williams 
turned its guns upon the rebels, and did murderous execution for three or four hours. 
Finally, when every portion of that strong earthwork was covered by rebel sharpshooters, 
and the rebel artillery had been so disposed as to send a concentric shower of shells within 
its parapets, Gen. Wessells accepted the situation and saved the garrison from certain 
sacrifice by a reluctant surrender." 

In a quotation from one of Maj. Graham's articles, reference is made to these 
negroes, and North Carolinians, the latter being designated as "Buffaloes," a nickname 
given to the dwellers of the coast of North CaroHna, an appellation especially applied to 
the natives of the state who enlisted in the Federal army. That they received rough 
treatment there is little doubt, especially those who had been in the Confederate army. At 
least twenty-two of them were executed by the enemy, according to Confederate authority. 
Col. James T. Morehcad, of the 53d North Carolina Regiment, in his regimental narrative, 
published in North Carolina Regiments, says : 

"Among the prisoners 22 had formerly belonged to our army, and had gone oyer to 
the enemy and taken up arms against us. These prisoners were sent to Kinston, given a 
fair trial by court-martial, convicted of high treason, and duly executed by our brigade." 




■Z^ -il^ 




-- 4 .' 




A GROUP OF CONFEDERATE OFFICERS— PLYMOUTH CAPTORS. 



1. MAJ. GEX. K. F. HOKE, comdg. force tliat captuioa Plymouth. Gen. Hoke was 
born May 27, 1S37. Enliste<l as a private in the 1st N. C. Vols., becoming major of the regi- 
ment in 1S61; lieutenant colonel of the 33d N. C. and later colonel of the 11th X. C. Avhich 
was subsequently reorganized as the 21st. Promoted brigadier general Jan. 17. lS6o, and 
major general April 20, lSC-1. for his services in capturing Plymouth. After the war was 
president of a railroad company. Pres. McKinley offered Gen. Hoke a commission as major 
general of \olunteers on the outbreak of the Cuban War, but he declined. 

2. BRIG. GEX. M. W. RAXSOM. comdg. brigade at Ijattle of Plymouth. Born Oct. S. 
1S26. Enlisted as a private, and was immediately appointed lieutenant-colonel of the ."i.'th X. C. 
infantr>-: promoted to colonel of the SSth in 1S62; jiromoted to brigadier general and major 
general in lS6o. but owing to the collapse of the Confederacy was not mustered. .Sul)sei(uent 
to the war Gen. Ransom was several times U. S. senator, and ser\ed as minister to Mexico 
during Cleveland's administration. 

3. LIEUT. COL. W. G. LE'WIS. co)ndg. Hoke's brigade at battle of Plymouth, after Col. 
Merctr was killed. Lieut. Col. Lewis was commanding 43d X. C. before assuming command of 
the brigade. He was subsequently promoted to biigadier general and was commanding Hoke's 
old brigade in the spring of 1SC5. when he was severely wounded at High Bridge. Va.. when 
lie was compelled to relinciuish command. 

■). J. "\V. COOKE, comdg. tlie "Albemarle. " Without the co-o])eration of the "All)eniarle"" 
Plymouth would have proved invulnei-able against the foi'ce under Gen. Hoke. 

5. MAJ. JOHX W. GRAHAM. 5i;ih X. C. I., Historian of the "Battle of Plymouth," pub- 
lished in "Xoi'th Carolina Regiments." Maj. Graham commanded the Confederate skirmishers 
who drove Capt. Donaghy's skirmishers in on Monday evening. AiJril IS. 

The abo\e group appeared in "N'ol. V, "Xorth Carolina Regiments." with Maj. Graham's 
article. 'The Capture of Plymouth." Tlie plates are the property of the State of X'orth 
Carolina and were kindly loaned tor use in this volume thi'ough the courtesy of Hon. Walter 
Clark, Chief Justice •■■f tlie Supreme Couit of the State, and editor of "Xortli Carolina 
Regiments." 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 267 

The hospital steward of the 85th New York, whose name was Appleton, had been a 
druggist at New Orleans at the outbreak of the war, and enlisted in the Confederate 
service and subsequently deserted and became hospital steward of the 85th. Capt. Donaghy 
says of him : 

"Surrender meant death to him, and when our flag went down, he, in his desperation,, 
swallowed a dose of morphine to end his life, but was saved by the surgeon and others, 
who by vigorous means prevented him from sleeping until the drug's power had passed 
away. After his recovery he devoted himself to his duties and rendered valuable aid to the 
surgeons in the care of the wounded, living in continual dread of being recognized and shot 
as a deserter. He was in the ranks near me as we were going to the cars at Weldon. A 
rebel non-commissioned officer with a squad of men came along our rank and asked me if 
I knew Appleton. I said 'No,' but he was recognized and pointed out by one of the rebels. 
Appleton had a look of despair on his face, which was shaded by the slouch hat which he 
had drawn down in a vain efifort at concealment. It was very sad to see him led away. 
I never heard of him again." 

Many of the North Carolinians distributed themselves among the other regiments^- 
assuming names of men absent, sick or on detached service. Some time during the after- 
noon of the 20th, the captured were marched out of town, the 103d going by the Lee's Mills 
road, and bivouacked between this road and the Washington road, in the neighborhood 
of the former picket line. Through the keen foresight, courage, and wisdom of Gen. 
Wessells, both officers and men were permitted to keep their clothing, overcoats and 
blankets. This stipulation was agreed to when the surrender was made. Gen. Wessells 
making the request and Gen. Hoke readily and graciously acquiescing. There was nothing 
of ostentation or of the bravado about Gen. Wessells, but he possessed a quiet dignity that 
commanded respect from every one with whom he came in contact. Although, in a measure^ 
holding himself aloof from familiarity from his subordinate officers, and the enlisted men^ 
he did it in a manner to command their respect and win their confidence and esteem. 
During the years of service under him, and the more than twoscore years that have passed 
since the war, the writer has no recollection of ever having heard an unkind or disrespectful 
remark made of Gen. Wessells. Such appellations as "The Old Man," "Uncle Billy," and 
"Dad Wessells" were quite common, but always used in a friendly way. When he surren- 
dered his command to Gen. Hoke, who was a young man, but a forceful character, Gen. 
Wessells retained his usual dignified bearing. To those about him he gave no evidence of 
the great sorrow that was piercing his heart. Nerval D. Goe, of Co. A, and subsequently- 
hospital steward of the regiment, was in close proximity to the final scene of the capitula- 
tion of Plymouth and heard the colloquy between the defeated and victorious commanders. 
He says : 

"As the Confederate commander approached Gen. Wessells, the latter reached him 
his sword, saying: 'Gen. Hoke, this is the saddest day of my life.' Gen. Hoke, as he 
received the sword, replied : 'General, this is the proudest day of my life.' And then, as if 
impressed by the wonderful and quiet bearing of the defeated commander, he handed back 
the sword, saying: 'Gen. Wessells, you are too brave a man to part with your sword; take 
it back! Have you any request to make?' 'I have but one request to make. General, and 
that is that my men are not robbed.' A quick and sympathetic response came from the 
victorious commander : 'Your request is granted.' And be it said to the credit of the Con- 
federate soldiers, both offi.cers and men, whose duty it was to guard the captives, this 
promise of Gen. Hoke's was faithfully kept." 

Capt. R. D. Graham, in his history of the 56th Regiment, says of the final scene of 
the surrender: 

"The writer was near Gen. Hoke when he received Gen. Wessells, accompanied by 
his officers, as his prisoner. There was everything in his courteous and considerate bearing- 
to lessen the sting of defeat. Dismounting from his horse and clasping the captive's hand, 
he assured him of his respect and sympathy, and added : 'After such a gallant defense you 
can bear the fortune of war without self-reproach.' " 

Sergt. Maj. Robert H. Kellogg, of the 16th Conn. Regiment, in his book. Life and 
Death in Rebel Prisons, says : 

"I saw but one instance of robbery at the beginning, and that was by an officer, 
evidently in a state of intoxication. Riding up to one of our boys, he drew his sword and 



2C8 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

demanded his watch, using threatening and insulting language, and declaring he would 
split open his head if he refused. Of course, there was no way but to yield." 

A few minutes after the surrender, before the excitement following the final capitu- 
lation had subsided. Gen. Wessells noticed a Confederate soldier taking the hat from a 
captive; he immediately rushed toward the culprit and ordered him to return the hat, which 
was done without any more hesitation than if Gen. Wessells had been in supreme com- 
mand. Gen. Wessells and staflf remained in Plymouth for three days after its capture, 
and had the freedom of the town within certain prescribed limits, to go to and fro as they 
pleased, having given their parole not to attempt to escape. When they left Plymouth, 
the officer left in command, accompanied them to the streamer that carried them up the 
Roanoke to Weldon, the "Cotton Plant," and made a request of the officer who then 
assumed control of them to see that they had good treatment. Gen. Wessells and staff 
were sent from Plymouth to Libby Prison at Richmond, the papers of that city commenting 
on their appearance, the day after their arrival. 

In justice to Gen. Hoke and his command, who treated their captives with more 
than ordinary chivalry and magnanimity at this stage of the war, the writer has felt it 
incumbent on him to call attention here to charges that have been made by captives, and 
reply to them before the final actors in the battle of Plymouth have passed away. At a 
meeting of the 103d Penna. Regimental Association held at Pittsburgh, Pa., during the first 
week of January, 1909, to consider the manuscript of the Regimental history, at which 
a number of the 101st Penna. Regiment were also present, who were at Plymouth at the 
capitulation, attention was called to the charge that the Confederate soldiers had brutally 
murdered the Negro soldiers who surrendered. Attention was called to the published state- 
ments, from the official records of the War Department and also, in histories written by 
two officers, who were captured at Plymouth. The citations referred to were as follows : 

Hdqrs. Dept. of Va. & N. C. In the Field, July 12, 1864. 
Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States : 

General — I have the honor to forward the sworn testimony of Samuel Johnson as 
to the occurrences at Plymouth after its capture. The man is intelligent; was examined 
by me and duly cautioned as to the necessity of telling the exact truth, and this is his 
reiterated statement, in which I have confidence as to its main features and substantial 
accuracy. 

It seems very clear to me that something should be done in retaliation for this 
outrage. Many prisoners have been taken from the 8th N. C. Regiment. The 6th is still at 
Plymouth. Were I commanding independently in the field I should take this matter into 
my own hands, but now deem it my duty to submit it to the better and cooler judgment 
of the lieutenant-general commanding. For myself, at the present moment I am too much 
moved by the detail of these occurrences to act in the matter. I have the honor to be, very 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Benj. F. Butler, Major General, Commanding. 
[Inclosure.] 
Hdqrs. Dept. of Va. and N. C. In the Field, July 11, 1864. 
Samuel Johnson, being duly sworn, deposes and says : 

I am orderly sergeant of Co. D, 2d U. S. Colored Cavalry. In about April last I 
went to Plymouth, N. C., in company with Sergt. French, a white man, who acted as 
recruiting officer, to take charge of some recruits, and was there at the time of the capture 
of Plymouth by the rebel forces. When I found that the city was being surrendered I 
pulled off my uniform and found a suit of citizen's clothes, which I put on, and when 
captured I was supposed and believed by the rebels to be a citizen. After being captured I 
was kept at Plymouth for some two weeks and was employed in endeavoring to raise the 
sunken vessels of the Union fleet. From Plymouth I was taken to Weldon and from thence 
to Raleigh, N. C, where I was detained about a month, and then was forwarded to Rich- 
mond, where I remained until about the time of the battles near Richmond, when I went 
with Lieut. Johnson, of the 6th N. C. Regiment, as his servant, to Hanover Junction. I 
did not remain there over four or five days before I made my escape into the lines of the 
Union army and was sent to Washington, D. C, and then duly forwarded to my regiment 
in front of Petersburg. Upon the capture of Plymouth by the rebel forces all the negroes 
found in blue uniform, or with any outward marks of a Union soldier upon him, was 
killed. I saw some taken into the woods and hung. Others I saw stripped of all their 
clothing and then stood upon the bank of the river with their faces riverward, and there 
they were shot. Still others were killed by having their brains beaten out by the butt-end 
of the muskets in the hands of the rebels. All were not killed the day of the capture. 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 269 

Those that were not were placed in a room with their officers, they (the officers) having 

previously been dragged through the town with ropes around their necks, where they were 

kept confined until the following morning, when the remainder of the black soldiers were 

killed. The regiments most conspicuous in these murderous transactions were the 8th N. C. 

and, I think, the 6th N. C. _ ., • ^r , ^ t 

bAMUEL (his X mark) Johnson. 

Witnessed by John L Davenport, lieutenant and acting aide-de-camp. 

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 11th day of July, 1864. 

John Cassels, Captain and Provost-Marshal. 

(O. R., Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 459-460.) 

Samuel Johnson, first sergeant, U. S. Colored Cavalry, makes affidavit as to the 
butchery of Union colored soldiers at Plymouth, N. C. 

[Indorsement.] 

This is a villainous lie, and badly told at that. Samuel Johnson is a bad affidavit man, 
whatever may be his other excellencies. If the truth is wanted, let inquiry be made of Col. 
Beach, or other captured officers, always excepting the chaplains. [Ro Ould.] 

(O. R., Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 468.) 

Lieut. Alonzo Cooper, 12th New York Cavalry, in In and Out of Rebel Prisons, pub- 
lished in 1888, says : 

"While at the Johnson farm we could hear the crack, crack, crack of muskets, down 
in the swamp where the negroes had fled to escape capture, and were being hunted like 
squirrels or rabbits. The Johnnies themselves laughingly said, 'They'd been out gunning 
for niggers.' 

"The negro soldiers who had surrendered were drawn up in line at the breastwork 
and shot down as they stood. This I plainly saw from where we were held under guard, 
not over five hundred yards distant. There were but few who saw this piece of atrocity, 
but my attention was attracted to it and I watched the whole brutal transaction ; when 
the company of rebels fired, every negro dropped at once, as one man." 

Second Lieut. B. F. Blakeslee, Co. G, 16th Connecticut Volunteers, in the History of 
the 16th Connecticut Volunteers, says : 

"The rebels raised the 'black flag' against the negroes found in uniform, and merci- 
lessly, shot them down. The shooting in cold blood of three or four hundred negroes and 
two companies of North Carolina troops who had joined our army, and even murdering 
peaceable citizens (as I have the personal knowledge of the killing, with the butt-end of 
a musket, of Mr. Spruell, the man whom I boarded with and, by the way, a secessionist, for 
objecting to the plundering of a trunk which he had packed), were scenes of which the 
Confederates make no mention, except the hanging of one person, but of which many of 
us were ej'e-witnesses, was but the Fort Pillow massacre re-enacted." 

These charges were discussed at some length by those present who were at the 
Plymouth capitulation and it was the unanimous opinion of all present so far as an expression 
was given that the authors of these articles were mistaken. It was agreed that many 
negroes and native North Carolina Union soldiers were killed, and perhaps an occasional 
one brutally murdered, by individual soldiers, but the victims, apprehending cruel treat- 
ment, were attempting to make their escape, when by the laws of war, the victors are 
justified in shooting to kill even an unarmed man. Gen. Wessells, in his official report of 
the battle, says a considerable number of North Carolina soldiers, many of them deserters 
from the enemy, attempted their escape before the capitulation. Negroes, and whites also, 
taking refuge in the wooded swamps surrounding Plymouth, after the capitulation, would, 
no doubt, be hunted for as sport by many well meaning men. Had the conditions been 
reversed, would not many Yankees enjoyed the same kind of sport? It was not the opinion 
of those exonerating the Confederates at Plymouth to charge willful misrepresentation 
to the parties making the charges, but they knew full well the tendency for the imagination 
to have full sway in times of such excitement as follows a surrender after a continued strife 
of four days. They were exceptional characters, indeed, who maintained their mental 
equipoise and normal judgment after undergoing the experiences that befell the besieged 
garrison at Plymouth. To reconcile the statements of the negro sergeant, and Lieut. Cooper, 
there must have been wholesale slaughter of the blacks. Gen. Wessells and staff, and many 
officers, and enlisted men, wounded, were present during this time. Such a holocaust could 
not have occurred in the hearing of such an astute and humane a man as Gen. Wessells, 
without coming to his knowledge, and those who know him, also know that he would 
have instantly taken issue with the Confederates, had he had any suspicion of such atrocities. 



•270 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Many negroes who were captured, subsequently made their escape and went to Roanoke Island, 
among them Richard West, cook of Co. I, 103d Penna. Regiment, who was enrolled and 
■mustered into the service of the U. S. as an enlisted man. He was put to work at Plymouth, 
but soon took advantage of an opportunity to escape, and rejoined the detachment of the 
Regiment at Roanoke Island, N. C. 

If negroes were shot down as stated by Johnson and Cooper, in such a wholesale 
manner, these negro prisoners must have known it. It would require a stretch of credulity 
to imagine that such witnesses would have remained silent had they witnessed such brutal 
atrocity as charged against the Plymouth captors. These troops represented the highest 
type of southern manhood, as is evidenced by their treatment of the ofUcers and men of 
Wessells' brigade. That there were here and there among them men of brutal proclivities, 
■who took advantage of the excitement and chaos of the time to give vent to their passion 
and hatred for the unfortunate negro, there can be no doubt; but to charge the deeds of 
a few against all is evidence of such bigotry as to condemn the witness. 

The kind treatment accorded Wessells' men by their captors makes it imperative on 
them to answer this baseless charge. The writer addressed a note to Gen. R. F. Hoke, and 
-also to Hon. Walter Clark, chief justice of the supreme court of North Carolina, and editor 
of North Carolina Regiments. Judge Clark replied as follows 

"No armed prisoners of any color were killed at Plymouth." 

Judge Clark referred the matter to Hon. John W. Graham, of the 56th N. C. 
Regiment, a gentleman whom the Judge commends in the highest terms for his integrity. 
Maj. Graham writes : 

"I have no hesitation in saying that the reputed killing of any colored troops the 
day after the capture of Plymouth, N. C, .\pril 20, 1864, is entirely untrue. I heard of 
•nothing of the kind at that time nor have I ever heard of it since until the receipt of 
your letter." 

No reply was received from Gen. Hoke, but the writer was informed that Gen. 
Hoke's health was in a precarious condition at the time of writing. To kill negroes wa-s 
contrary to the policy of the Confederate government. Slaves were regarded as property, 
a position always held by the Confederacy, and when the Federal government began to 
enlist ex-slaves they were, on capture, ordered to be returned to their former owners. 
That this policy was in force at the time of the capture of Plymouth is evident from the 
following dispatch from Gen. Bragg, dated Richmond, .April 21, 1864, to Gov. Vance of 
North Carolina. Gen. Bragg says : 

"The President directs that the negroes captured by our forces be turned over to you 
for the present, and he requests of you that if, upon investigation, you ascertain that any 
•of them belong to citizens of North Carolina, you will cause them to be restored to their 
respective owners. If any are owned in other states, you will please communicate to me 
their number and the names and places of residence of their owners, and have them retained 
in strict custody until the President's views in reference to such may be conveyed to you. 
To avoid as far as possible all complications with the military authorities of the United 
States in regard to the disposition which will be made of this class of prisoners, the 
President respectfully requests Your Excellency to take the necessary steps to have the 
matter of such disposition kept out of the newspapers of the State, and in every available 
■way to shun its obtaining any publicity as far as consistent with the proposed restoration." 
(O. R., Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 78.) 

When the writer began this investigation it was with the expectation of, in a measure, 
verifying the affidavit of the negro, Sergeant Johnson. It was not with the motive of doing 
justice, especially to the victorious Confederates of Plymouth, but merely to tell the whole 
truth bearing on the battle of Plymouth, in which he knew his Regiment had done its full 
duty. In his careful research for the truth he became fully convinced that an injustice had 
"been done the Confederates who had captured his Regiment, and that as an impartial 
"historian, these facts should be recorded in this volume. 

LIEUT. COM. C W. FLUSSER. 

The defense of Plymouth depended jointly on the army and navy and the majority 
■of the reconnoissances from there were participated in by both. By these frequent expedi- 
tions, on which the soldiers were transported by the gunboats, a comradeship between 




COMMANDi;U C. w. FLU>SER, U. S. K- 




THE "ALBEMARJ-E" BEADV KOE ACTION. 



LIEUT. COM. C. W. FLUSSER 271 

sailors and soldiers grew up that made them feel as though they were but one command. 
This fraternal feeling not only existed between officers and men, but especially so between 
the superior officers of each— Gen. Wessells and Capt. Flusser. Although entirely different 
personalities, each held the other in the highest esteem. One was a soldier by profession and 
the other a life-long sailor. The defense of Plymouth, at least so far as its commanders 
were concerned, could not have been put into more capable hands, and it was the general 
belief of the garrison that had Capt. Flusser not come to his untimely death that the ram 
Albemarle would have gone to the bottom of the Roanoke or it would have been captured. 
It is almost an unthinkable proposition to those who knew Capt. Flusser intimately, 
that he would have remained inactive, permitting the Albemarle to have quiet possession 
of the river at Plymouth while the garrison was struggling against an overwhelming force. 
He would have found some way to have kept Capt. Cooke busy, so that he could Have 
rendered but little assistance to the Confederate land force. To say this of Capt. Flusser 
is not a condemnation of his successor in command. There were few men, either in the 
army or navy, who possessed the genius for warfare that was innate in Capt. Flusser. 
The right thing to do, at the proper time, was his by intuition, and he was one of those 
rare spirits who seemed incapable of fear. To the command at Plymouth, he was one of 
them, and, democratic by nature, there was a comradeship that existed between him and 
the enlisted men which was exceptionally rare between soldiers and naval officers. On an 
€xpedition in which the naval fleet had only a small force of infantry, it became necessary 
for the latter to deploy at wide intervals to give the enemy the impression that the force 
was much larger than it really was. Sergt. Evans, of the 103d, who had a position on the 
extreme right of the advancing force, was very much surprised to find the captain at his 
side, with a revolver in each hand, at the very moment they expected to receive a f^re from 
the enemy at close range. Not having the right to assume the position as commander, he 
was willing to take his place in the ranks. His official rank was lieutenant-commander, a 
grade in the navy ranking with major in the army, but he was almost universally known 
by the title of captain. 

Lieutenant-Commander Charles W. Flusser was born at Annapolis, Md., in 1833. He 
moved to Kentucky when a child and was appointed a midshipman, July 19. 1847. His first 
cruise was made in the Cumberland. He was promoted to lieutenant September 16, 1855, 
and in 1857 became assistant professor at the U. S. Naval Academy. He was in the brig 
Dolphin in 1859-60, and during his succeeding leave of absence the Civil War began. He 
refused the offer of a high command in the Confederate service, and applied for active 
duty in the Federal navy, and was assigned to the command of the gunboat Commodore 
Perry, with which vessel he assisted in the attack on Roanoke Island, N. C, which preceded 
its capture, on Feb. 7, 1862. From this period the most of his time was spent in the 
waters of the eastern coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. On October 3, 
1862, he had charge of a small fleet, consisting of the Commodore Perry, Hunchback, and 
Whitehead, and advanced up the Chowan and Blackwater rivers to within less than a mile 
of Franklin, Va., twenty miles west of Suffolk, and under a murderous fire from the enemy, 
who was posted on a high embankment, shelled the town for more than three hours. On 
this expedition he was promised the co-operation of a land force from Suffolk, which 
failed to materialize, and after losing four men killed and 17 wounded, the fleet withdrew 
between 10 and 11 o'clock A. M. 

In May, 1863, Capt. Flusser took charge of the Miami, which was the flag-ship of 
his squadron, and on the deck of which he was killed, at 3 :30 A. M., April 19, 1864, with the 
laniard of the gun in his hand, from which the shell was fired that resulted in his death. 

In an article in the Raleigh News and Observer, in its issue of June 11, 1909, the 
writer gives as authority the mayor of Plymouth in 1909, for a story which seems almost 
incredible. He states that a brother of Capt. Flusser, who was then a colonel in the 
Confederate army, visited Capt. Flusser at Plymouth, disguised as a citizen, some time 
before the Confederate attack. Col. Flusser, so the story goes, was accompanied by Mr. 
S. B. Spruill (mayor of Plymouth in 1909), coming from the home of Mr. Spruill's father, 



272 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

in Bertie county, and that after spending a week with his brother, Capt. Flusser, the colonel 
returned to Bertie county. 

To know what basis this correspondent had for the above story, the writer has had 
some correspondence with Mr. Spruill, who is an attorney at law, at Plymouth. He verifies 
the story with some slight modifications. He claims to have accompanied him through the 
Confederate lines to the Roanoka River, which being controlled by the Federal gunboats 
was regarded as within the Federal lines. Col. Flusser then employed a man who had a 
canoe to drop him to Lieut. Com. Flusser's flagship. According to Mr. Spruill's recollection 
Col. Flusser remained about three days with his brother. Mr. Spruill evidently did not 
know who the man was with the canoe or he would have given his name. Without reflecting 
at all on the veracity of Mr. Spruill, whom the writer believes to be perfectly truthful as to 
the matter, but evidence is lacking to show that Col. Flusser succeeded in reaching his 
brother, or if he did, that he was an officer of the Confederate Army. The official records 
mention Capt. Guy Flusser, without indicating his regiment, but the probability is that he 
belonged to the 4th Kentucky (Confederate) Cavalry, as the mention made of him was by 
the colonel of that regiment, who was then commanding a brigade. In justice to Mr. Spruill 
the following extract from his correspondence is given : 

"The Roanoke river and streams flowing into same were in the Federal lines, and 
all that Col. Flusser did was to employ a man who had a canoe and get him to carry him 
from what is known as Cashoke creek to the Roanoke river, and drop same to Admiral 
Flusser's flag ship. Col. Flusser may have remained during his entire visit to his brother 
aboard of Admiral Flusser's flagship, and sent back same way, and no one would have 
known it. [It is hardly possible for a brother of Capt. Flusser to have boarded the Miami 
without coming to the knowledge of the crew, especially if he remained on board several 
days.] I am satisfied that Admiral Flusser did not allow his brother to visit the fortifica- 
tions or learn anything about the Federal strength at Plymouth. Col. Flusser was a Ken- 
tuckian ; what regiment he commanded I do not know. I carried_ him through the Con- 
federate lines without any trouble, they knowing me, but I am satisfied his visit was only 
of a friendly nature. Col. Flusser stayed about three days according to my best recollection 
now." 

The fall of Plymouth severed the relations that had existed for nearly two years 
between the 101st and 103d Penna. Regiments and Gen. Wessells. During this time, both 
officers and men had acquired an afifection for him — an affection known only to those who 
have endured great privations and dangers together. Most of his command regarded him 
with a filial reverence. 

Evidence of the high regard in which Capt. Flusser held Gen. Wessells is given in 
the following communication to Acting Rear-Admiral Lee. dated April 6, 1S64, only two 
weeks before the capitulation of Plymouth : 

"I have the information about the roads, depots, etc., from Gen. Wessells. Where he 
obtained it I do not know, but he deems it reliable, and he, I think, is always correct. He 
certainly possesses the art, in a greater degree than any one else I know of, of sifting 
evidence, reconciling or rejecting conflicting stories, and seizing the truth and the impor- 
tance from out of a wordy mass of seeming irrelevant talk." (O. R. — Naval — Ser I, Vol 
9, p. 587.) 

BRIG. GEN. H. W. WESSELLS. 
Brig. Gen. Henry W. Wessells was a native of Connecticut, born in Litchfield, 
February 20, 1809, eight days after the birth of Abraham Lincoln. He graduated from 
West Point Academy in 1833 and participated in the Seminole War of 1837-40, first as 2d 
lieutenant of infantry, from which he was promoted July 7, 1838, to 1st lieutenant. During 
the war with Mexico he was promoted captain and won the title of brevet-major for 
gallantry at Contreras and Cherubusco. At Contreras, in a charge upon the enemy, the 
color bearer of Capt. Wessells' regiment was killed, and although the captain had just 
received a wound, he seized the regimental standard and led his men on the enemy. In 
recognition of his distinguished services during this campaign the state of Connecticut 
presented him with a jeweled sword, the presentation being observed with military cere- 
mony. From 1849 to 1854 he was assigned to duty on the Pacific coast, and participated 
in the Sioux expedition of 1855, after which he served at different points, mostly in the 



BRIG. GEN. H. W. WESSELLS 273 

northwest. On June 6, 1861, he was promoted major, and on August 22, 1861, was appointed 
colonel of the 8th Kansas Infantry, serving with this regiment on the Missouri border. 
He resumed his commission in the regular army February 15, 1862, and, in March, was 
transferred to the Army of the Potomac. He was commissioned brigadier-general of 
volunteers April 25, 1862, and assigned to command the Second Brigade, First Division, 
Fourth Corps. Subsequent to the death of Gen. Keira, Gen. McCIellan assigned Gen! 
Wessells to command the Second Brigade of Casey's division, a position he assumed only 
a few days before the battle of Seven Pines. In recognition of his services in the battle 
of Seven Pines he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. Subsequent to 
the battle of Seven Pines the Third Brigade of Casey's division was merged into Wessells' 
brigade, giving Gen. Wessells command of eight regiments. 

During the retreat of the Army of the Potomac from Malvern Hill to Harrison's 
Landing, Wessells' brigade was assigned to cover the retreat, during which two regiments 
of the First Brigade, 56th New York and 104th Penna., were temporarily assigned to Gen. 
Wessells' command. From this time on, until the capitulation of his command, the career 
of Gen. Wessells has already been comprehensively told in this volume. 

Only when necessary did Gen. Wessells appear in full military dress. Ordinarily he 
might have been taken for an enhsted man, and, in fact, he frequently was, by men of 
other commands, and sometimes by his own men. Although quietly dressed, he was always 
neat and cleanly in appearance, and, although dignified and reserved in demeanor, so much 
so, that few officers or men felt free to approach him unnecessarily, yet when occasion 
required it he was approachable and affable. On an expedition once, it was raining quite 
hard, when halt was made for the night. William Dougherty, of Co. C, 103d Regiment, 
who was about the same age as Gen. Wessells, was rushing to a nearby rail fence to secure 
wood for a fire and a bed, when he espied the general close at hand, observing the actions 
of the men; he hesitated, when about to begin, and, turning and saluting the general, he 
asked him if there would be any objection to taking a few rails. The latter replied in such 
friendly terms, saying, "Take all you need to make yourselves comfortable," and then asked 
him as to his age, and how he stood the service, in such an interested way, that it gave the 
private soldier an insight into his character that he thought impossible in' one so digTiified 
and reserved. 

Gen. Wessells was an early riser and most any morning could be seen in front of his 
headquarters walking leisurely to and fro, as if in deep meditation. An enlisted man 
Corporal Smith (assumed name), of the 85th New York, was on duty at the provost 
marshal's office, and, passing headquarters early one morning, when the general was taking 
his accustomed exercise, he accosted him with a freedom and abandon common in army 
life only among those of equal rank. The following colloquy occurred, as afterward related 
by the corporal: "Good morning. General!" "Good morning!" quietly responded the 
general. The corporal, halting as if to engage the general in conversation, continued. 
"It's a fine morning. General!" "Where do you belong?" asked the general. "To the 85th 
New York, but I am on duty as a clerk at the provost marshal's office," responded the 
corporal. "Ah," said the general, and then, hesitating for a moment, continued, "When you 
return to the provost marshal's office, notify the provost marshal that you have orders to 
report to your company for duty, and I will see that the order is issued." Corp. Smith 
obeyed orders and his service at the provost marshal's office ended that morning. 

In his "Army Experience," Capt. Donaghy refers to Gen. Wessells' appearance after 
the return of the brigade to New Bern from the Goldsboro expedition, and at other times 
as follows : 

Gen. Wessells was as weather worn as the rest of us, and as he rode through town 
one day he saw a man of our regiment who had been wounded in one arm, knock down 
• with a blow from the other a soldier of a Massachusetts regiment. The general interfered 
and asked the reason of the fight, and the Pennsylvania boy replied. Why, general this 
damned whelp called you an old ragamuffin.' Gen. Wessells was in the habit of prowling 
about the camps wearing the great coat of a private soldier, and if any neglect was dis- 
covered the attention of the regimental commander would be called to it in orders. Some- 
times when on the march he would be seen tramping along on foot among the men. On 



274 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

one such occasion a man of our regiment was asserting to a comrade that the general pre- 
ferred our regiment to any in the brigade, when a voice at his side snapped out, "How d« 
you know he does?" He turned and recognized "Old Billy." One day our brigade was 
reviewed at New Bern by one of the officers under Wessells, and as we had just started 
to march in review, I detected the general's keen eyes looking out from between the stand- 
ing collars of a great blue coat. He was looking along the Banks of the company towards 
the rear of the column, and he must have seen something that disgusted him, for just as I 
passed him I heard him give vent to his feelings in one short word that was quite ex- 
pressive. One day when we were at Suffolk, Capt. Fahnestock having some business at 
brigade headquarters, saw a man at one of the tents leaning over a basin washing his face. 
He had on a worn and sweat-stained woolen undershirt, common army trousers and brogans, 
and the captain tapped him familiarly on the back and addressed him, 'Say, old man, where 
can I find the general?" When the old man turned on him with a sharp glance he recog- 
nized the general and stammered out an apology, which was graciously accepted." 

Illustrative of a trait of his character the following is taken from Gen Keyes' "Fifty 
Years' Observations" : 

From the letter of August 8, 1884. written to me by Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells, com- 
manding Casey's center brigade [at Fair Oaks], I extract the following — he repeats my ques- 
tion : 

Question. — Did you have anything to do with Gen. Naglee, or his orders or his 
brigade in the battle of Fair Oaks? 

Answer. — No. 

Question. — Did any movement made by you in the battle of Fair Oaks have any 
reference to Naglee's brigade? 

Answer. — No. 

Gen. Keyes publishes a lengthy statement from Gen. Palmer in reply to a similar 
letter. There is little doubt that this extract embraces the entire substance of Gen. Wes- 
sells' reply to his former chief's interrogation. 

After the surrender of his command at Plymouth, Gen. Wessells and staff were 
permitted, while remaining there, to move about within certain prescribed limits, and on 
April 23 they left on the Cotton Plant, for Weldon; they took the cars for Richmond, and 
were confined in Libby Prison. From Libby he was transferred successively to Danville, 
Macon, and Charleston. While at the latter place he was under the fire of the Federal 
batteries at Morris Island. A few days before he was paroled a detachment of 600 Federal 
officers arrived in Charleston and were confined in the city jail and its yard. The day 
before leaving Charleston, Gen. Wessells visited them and, finding them very uncomfortable, 
he made a protest to the Confederate commander, who assured him that the condition 
would be changed as soon as it was possible to effect a change. He was paroled on August 
3, 1864, and arrived at New York on the 9th. On November 11, 1864, the Secretary of 
War appointed him Inspector and Commissary-General of Prisoners for the section of 
the country east of the Mississippi river, with headquarters at Washington, a position he 
assumed November 15 and held until the close of the war. He was promoted lieutenant- 
colonel in the regular army, February 16, 1S65, and brevetted colonel to date from April 
20, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services during the rebel attack on Plymouth, N. C. 
On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of the regular army. 

After the war. Gen. Wessells was assigned to duty on the Northwestern frontier until 
he retired from the service, January 1, 1871. He then returned to his native state, where 
he made his home until his death. However, he was on a visit at Dover, Delaware, when 
his death occurred, January 12, 1889. 

War Dept.. Adjt. General's Office, Washington. Sept. 12, 1864. 

General Orders, No. 255. The following named officers and enlisted men of the U. S. 
Army, having been duly exchanged as prisoners of war by an agreement entered into be- 
tween Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, commanding Department of the South, and Gen. S. Jones, 
commanding the city of Charleston, are hereby declared so exchanged : Brig. Gen. H. W. 
Wessells, * * * Col. T. F. Lehmann, * * * Lieut. Col. W. C. Maxwell, * * * 
The officers * * * whose exchange is announced above will proceed to join their re- 
spective regiments and commands at the expiration of the leaves of absence which may have 
been given. 

By order of the Secretary of War: E. D. Townsend, .-Assistant Adjutant General. 

(0. R. Ser. 11, Vol. VII, pp. 805-806.) 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 275 

OFFICIAL REPORTS OF GEN. WESSELLS AND LIEUT. LUCIEN A. 
BUTTS ON THE BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH, N. C, APRIL 20, 1864. 

Cooperstown, N. Y., August 18, 1864. 
General: I have the honor to inform you that on the 20th of April I was compelled 
to surrender the post of Plymouth, N. C, to a superior rebel force, and I now report to 
you the circumstances as follows: 

For some months previous to the date above mentioned, I felt satisfied from informa- 
tion derived from various sources that a vigorous effort on the part of the enemy would 
oe made to wrest the state of North CaroUna from our possession. This opinion was 
expressed to you in frequent communications, with the hope that the military force would 
be strengthened and that at least one iron-clad gunboat would be added to the naval 
squadron for the protection of the sounds and rivers. My expectations were fully con- 
hrmed by the movement of Gen. Pickett upon New Bern in February, and although this 
attempt resulted in failure, the enemy still remained in strong force along the line of the 
Neuse evidently with further designs. During the month of April, conflicting reports were 
brought as to the movements of the enemy; at one time he was said to be concentrating 
on the Roanoke at another on the Tar river, threatening both Plymouth and Washington 
when, on the 13th, my information was so positive as to the former, that I at once requested 
from the department headquarters direct, a reinforcement of 5,000 men, believing that thev 
could not be spared from the North Carolina stations. ^ 

Oil the 16th, the gunboat Tacony, Lieut.-Com. Truxton, arrived from New Bern 
^d having m the meantime learned that no considerable force of the enemy was on the 
Roanoke, but rather threatening Washington from some point on the Tar river I oer 
mitted him to return on the following morning, April 17th, and this decision is to be 
regretted At 4 o'clock of that day (April 17th), the extreme mounted pat?ol on the 
Washington road was captured by an advance guard of the enemy's cavalry and the 
cavalry outpost dispersed and driven in; a reinforcement under Lieut Russell 12th N Y 
Cavalry, was also compelled to retire, bringing away that officer severely wounded The 
w J-'"L°"^P°'^^ ^^" ^^ ?"" strengthened, and the enemy soon began to appear on the 
Washington road m great force, having made a forced march of nearly 30 miles in hooes 
cLT I ^^".mplete surprise. This design failed, as our line of skirmishers' remained 
steady, l^ort Gray, 2 miles above and on the river bank, was assailed at the same time 
sustaining until dark a heavy cannonade. The garrison, composed of detachments of 85th 
N. Y. Vols, and 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, Capts. Brown and Fiske, though much annoved 
by sharpshooters, returned the fire of the enemy with great vigor, and, with the exception 
ot a tew casualties, no impression was made on the work. The hne of defense extended 
froni Fort Gray to the crossing of Coneby creek, below the town, a distance of 2% miles 
the former being detached work, separated from the main line by Welch's creek and its' 
marsh. The garrison was distributed along this line and was composed as follows : 
16th Conn. Vols., Col. Francis Beach; 400 effective men 
85th N. Y. Vols., Col. E. H. Fardella ; 450 men. 
101st Penna. Vols., Lieut. Col. A. W. Taylor; 300 men 
103d Penna. Vols., Col. T. F. Lehmann; 400 men. 
24th N. Y. Ind. Battery, 6 guns, Capt. Cody. 

Detachment from Cos. A and F, 12th N. Y. Cavalry, Capt Roche 
Two companies 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, Capt. Sampson. 
The latter being distributed in small detachments in several earthworks There were 
also present porttons of two companies. 2d North Carolina Vols., native troops under 
Capts. Johnson and Hoggard. The naval force at that time consisted of gunboats ' Miami 
Lieut. Com Chas. W. Flusser, U. S. Navy, one of Kentucky's most noble and chivalrous 
sons; bouthheld, Lieut. French; volunteer service with smaller boats Whitehead and 
Ceres, the whole under the direction of Capt. Flusser. 

It was the design of Capt. Flusser to f^ght this formidable antagonist in the river 
with his own boat lashed to the Southfield, running in at close quarters whilst the White- 
head was to use every effort to disable her propeller, and great confidence was felt as to 
the result of this plan. 

The line of defense surrounding the town was divided into three nearly equal oor- 
tions, the right commanded by Col. Fardella, the center by Col. Lehmann, the left subdivision 
being under the direction of Col. Beach. The 85th Redoubt, so named from the regiment 
by which It was constructed, was a small detached work in front of the right, garhsoned 
by detachments of 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery and the 85th N. Y. Vols, commanded by Caot 
Chapm, of the latter regiment. -^ *^ 

Until dark of the 17th, sharp skirmishing was kept up on the Washington road. 



276 OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

extending across the fields nearly to the Acre road [Lee's Mills], but without any impor- 
tant results, and the night was passed in comparative quiet. The enemy was too strong to 
attempt a sortie with any hope of success. 

On the following morning (l8th), at daylight, a severe cannonade was opened against 
Fort Gray, resulting in some fatal casualties, but the garrison remained firm, replying 
vigorously to the enemy's fire. The 200-pounder in Battery Worth was also brought to 
bear in that direction, but without any decided eflFect. The armed transport, Bombshell, 
in communicating with Fort Gray, received several shots below her water line, being barely 
able to return to town, when she sank at the wharf. The transport Massasoit made two 
trips to Roanoke Island, carrying away a large number of children and women, contrabands 
and other non-combatants. The gunboat Ceres, being above Fort Gray at the time of its 
investment, passed down the river under a destructive fire and rejoined the squadron with 
a loss of 9 men killed and wounded. During the whole of this day incessant skirmishing 
was maintained along and between the main approaches in front of the town, at a distance 
of 1,200 yards from the line of defense, but soon after sunset the enemy advanced his 
batteries, supported by an overwhelming force, and appearances indicated a general attack. 

Our line of skirmishers fell back, firing, in good order, and the enemy, under cover 
of darkness, opened a furious cannonade upon the town in every direction. This fire was 
replied to by Capt. Sampson from Fort Williams with great coolness and precision, inflicting 
heavy damage and loss upon the enemy. Finding our front too well prepared for an 
assault, the attack was discontinued at about 8 o'clock and the attention of the enemy 
directed upon the 85th Redoubt. This work, after a desperate resistance, was surrendered, 
and, as I have understood, under a threat of no quarter. Its gallant commander, Capt. 
Cha'pin, 85th N. Y. Vols., fell nobly at his post, and Col. Mercer, commanding the attacking 
column, was killed. No report has been received in regard to this transaction, and I am 
therefore unable to detail the circumstances attending either the attack or the surrender. 
A demand was then made for the surrender of the town, which was declined. 

On the following morning (April 19th), at 3 o'clock, the enemy again opened upon 
Fort Gray, and soon after, under cover of night and the shadows of the trees on the 
opposite bank, the iron-clad ram Albemarle passed down unnoticed and without injury 
from the 200-pounder in Battery Worth. She was immediately engaged by the Miami and 
Southfield. I have no particulars in regard to this conflict, but the Southfield was soon 
sunk by the collision, and Lieut. Com. Flusser fell on his own quarterdeck with a lanyard 
in his hand. In the death of this accomplished sailor, the navy has lost one of its 
brightest ornaments, and he will be long remembered by those who knew and loved him 
for his intellectual worth, his social qualities, and his manly bearing. 

The wooden gunboats being unable to contend with so securely mailed an antagonist, 
moved down the river, leaving it in full possession of the enemy. He was now on every 
side of the town, and this unlooked-for disaster created among the troops a moral effect 
of the most discouraging character. Hitherto every hardship and exposure met with cheer- 
fulness and confidence. A series of covered excavations had been constructed along the 
line, afltording shelter under heavy fire, causing my loss to be comparatively slight. During 
the day the enemy planted a battery near the Soth Redoubt, and, partly covered by that 
work, opened fire upon the town. The Albemarle also opened from below; both were 
returned from Fort Williams and Battery Worth, but without effect. The enemy was very 
active, moving in different directions, withdrawing most of his force from the vicinity of 
Fort Gray and apparently making a serious demonstration on my right. Skirmishing was 
severe in that quarter, and many casualties occurred on both sides. This state of things 
continued until dark, when the enemy in strong force succeeded in effecting the crossing of 
Coneby creek below the town, and massed his column on my left. This disaster is unex- 
plained and placed me in a most critical position. Some changes were made during the 
night in the disposition of the troops, and arrangements made to repel attack on both 
right and left. 

At daylight on the following day, April 20th, while my right and front were most 
seriously threatened, the enemy advanced rapidly against my left, assaulting and carrying 
the Une in that quarter, penetrating the town along the river and capturing Battery Worth. 
A line of infantry was formed from the breastworks perpendicularly towards the river, 
in hopes of staying the advance. This effort succeeded for a time, but the troops seemed 
discouraged, and finally fell back to the intrenchments. At the request of Gen. Hoke, com- 
manding the rebel forces, a personal interview was granted, at which a surrender was 
demanded in consideration of my untenable position, of the impossibility of relief, and the 
defense had been highly honorable to all concerned. In failure of this, indiscriminate 
slaughter was intimated. The bearing of Gen. Hoke during this interview was courteous 
and soldier-like. His demand was refused, and preparations were made to renew the 
contest. I was completely enveloped on every side. Fort Williams, an enclosed work in 
the center, being my only hope. This was well understood by the enemy, and in less than 
an hour a cannonade of shot and shell was opened upon it from different directions. This 
terrible fire had to be endured without reply, as no man could live at the guns. The breast- 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 277 

height was struck by solid shot on every side, fragments of shells sought almost every 
interior angle of the work, the whole extent of the parapet was swept by musketry, and men 
were killed and wounded even on the banquette slope. 

A covered excavation had been previously constructed, to which the wounded were 
conveyed, where they received efficient medical attention. This condition of affairs could 
not long be endured without a reckless sacrifice of life; no relief could be expected, and in 
compliance with the earnest desire of every officer I consented to hoist a white flag, and at 
10 A. M. of April 20 I had the mortification of surrendering my post to the enemy with all 
it contained. It is to be remarked that during the siege, and in the night, a considerable 
number of North Carolina soldiers (many of them deserters from the enemy, and all of 
them fearing bad treatament in the event of capture) left their companies without authority, 
escaping in canoes, being picked up, as I understood, by boats in the sound. 

The foregoing statement is made after an interval of four months, entirely from 
memory, not having received a single report from my subordinate officers. Most of them 
are still in captivity, and the others scattered over the country beyond my control ; in fact, 
they have had no opportunity, until now, to perform this duty. Myself and officers were 
plundered of all our effects, except such as were upon our persons ; in every other respect, 
I was treated by Gen. Hoke and his officers with kindness and courtesy. 

For the reason stated above, I am unable to report the losses on either side, but have 
reason to believe that my own casualties did not exceed 150, while from information derived 
by medical officers who remained in Plymouth the lowest loss of the enemy in killed and 
wounded is given at 850; many believe it to be far greater. With my personal staff I was 
at once separated from the troops, and on Saturday, the 23d, I was conveyed to Richmond 
via Weldon and Petersburg, and then confined in Libby Prison April 26th. The enlisted 
men with regimental officers were marched to Tarboro and thence by rail to Macon and 
Andersonville, Ga. On the 7th of May, in company with 850 captive officers, I was conveyed 
to Danville. Leaving that place on the 12th, I was taken to Macon and there confined until 
the 10th of June. On that day, 50 senior officers, including myself, were ordered to proceed 
east, and, passing through Savannah, arrived in Charleston on the 12th. At this place the 
party was confined in the city, under the fire of the batteries at Morris Island. No incon- 
venience, however, was experienced from this unusual proceeding. On the 3d of the present 
month an exchange was effected under the direction of Maj. Gen. Foster, commanding 
Department of the South, and with the whole party I arrived in New York on the 9th. 

It may be proper to state that a few days prior to the completion of this exchange, a 
detachment of officers, prisoners of war, numbering 600, arrived in Charleston from Macon 
and were confined in the city jail and its yard. I visited them in the evening of the 2d, 
and found them very uncomfortable, being much crowded and poorly sheltered. I was 
assured, however, by the rebel authorities that this condition was only temporary, and that 
they should be soon removed to more suitable quarters. As soon as sub-reports are received 
and examined, they will be forwarded as accompaniments of this statement. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Wessells. 

Maj. Gen. J. J. Peck, late Commanding Dist. of N. C. 

Note. — In the foregoing report I have neglected to state that on the morning of the 
19th, subsequent to the marine disaster, Capt. H. I. Hodges, assistant quartermaster of 
volunteers, in endeavoring to communicate with the gunboats, was accidentally drowned by 
the upsetting of a canoe. No further information in regard to his fate has ever reached 
me. I should also add that on the following day, during the bombardment of Fort Williams, 
Capt. Coats, of 85th N. Y. Vols., acting as assistant inspector general of the district, was 
severely wounded in the face by a fragment of shell. It is difficult for me at this time, 
without the aid of subordinate reports, to detail with accuracy all the incidents of the siege[ 
and other important omissions mav have been made. H W W 

(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 296-300.) 

Report of Lucien A. Butts, 85th New York Infantry: 

Annapolis, Md., April 5, 1865. 
Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells, Washington, D. C. : 

General — I inclose to you a report, made from such memoranda as I could make after 
I reached Macon, of the defense of the redoubt in which I was captured. I have not yet 
received the report from Lieut. Clark I expected to send with this. I arrived here from 
Richmond the 27th ultimo, having escaped from Charlotte, N. C, and been recaptured at 
Fayetteville. I am awaiting an order for muster-out on account of expiration of my term 
of service, the order being very disagreeably delayed some days after the reception by 
others of theirs, applied for at the same time. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

L. A. Butts, 1st Lieut. 85th N. Y. Vols. 



278 OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

Annapolis, Md., April 1, 1865. 
General — I have the honor, at this earliest practicable time after my release from 
prison, to report the operations at the 85th Redoubt, Plymouth, N. C., preceding the sur- 
render of that work, April 18, 1864, the command, by the mortal wounding of Capt. Nelson 
Chapin, having fallen upon me as senior officer present. 

The garrison of the redoubt consisted of 42 enlisted men of Co. K, 85th N. Y. Vols., 
with its officers, Capt. N. Chapin, Lieut. L, A. Butts, and 2d Lieut. S. S. Peake, and 23 
enlisted men of Co. H, 2d Mass. Heavy Artillery, commanded by 2d Lieut. H. L. Qark. 
Its armament was a light 32-pounder on a ship carriage, and an old pattern iron 6-pounder 
field piece. Occasional shots were made from our guns as parties of the enemy made their 
appearance in the vicinity of the Washington road after our pickets were driven in on the 
evening of the ITth and the morning of the 18th. About 10 A. M. of the 18th three rifled 
guns opened fire from near the Fagan house upon our pickets near the redoubt, replying 
also to our guns. During two hours or more good practice was apparently made by our 
32-pounder against these guns. No damage was done to the redoubt, though several shells 
struck it. Firing was discontinued during the greater part of the afternoon until near 
night, when a few shells were thrown upon the line of battle advancing upon our skir- 
mishers between the Washington and Long Acre [Lee's Mills] roads. While our attention 
was drawn in this direction, a battery was brought into position in the field on the southern 
front of the redoubt, which opened a rapid fire before our large gun could be shifted to 
bear upon it. The 6-pounder only could be used. It was well served under a close fire, two 
of the infantry helping to man it at the last in place of the artillery, who failed to come to 
the work. One of its earliest discharges exploded a caisson. Under cover of the fire of 
this battery, and nearly hidden in the obscurity of the night by the ground descending 
toward the swamp, and by the proximity of the woods, a heavy cokunn of infantry was 
advanced to assault the redoubt. This column was opened upon by our musketry when 
about 100 yards distant, but it advanced steadily and soon enveloped the redoubt on every 
side, pouring in a heavy fire. The abatis was soon penetrated, when hand grenades were 
used by us, apparently with great effect, as the attacking force soon retired, to rally again, 
however, in a short time. This was three or four times repeated, but with little order or 
success in getting through the abatis. The enemy finally passed in line toward the town, 
leaving some stragglers in our vicinity. Twenty-six of these, some of them wounded, but 
mostly unhurt, surrendered in small squads, and were assisted to scale the walls into the 
redoubt. Our loss in repelling this assault was 1 killed and 8 wounded (3 mortally). The 
wounded included the only competent gunners fit for duty. 

After an interval of about half an hour, several guns opened upon the redoubt from 
a knoll about 250 yards from the south wall, and two or three guns at a distance of 100 
yards, opposite the southwest corner, the fire from the two positions crossing at a right 
angle. The last-named guns were placed under the bank of the swamp, so that neither of 
ours could bear upon them. The darkness prevented the enemy from being seen while 
placing his guns, and an attempt to use our field piece where a movement could be heard 
was abandoned after one or two discharges as useless. The enemy's sharpshooters were 
active while their batteries played upon the redoubt. The small building in the corner of 
the work, upon which the fire was concentrated, proved a source of great danger. The 
percussion shells from the enemy's guns struck its roof and chimney, exploding and 
sending deadly missiles to nearly every part of the redoubt. Capt. Chapin was struck by 
a fragment of one of these shells during the second cannonade, about 9:30 o'clock. The 
fire was also very effective upon the walls of the redoubt, penetrating deep and throwing off 
much earth by the explosions. The sandbags were broken and thrown off the parapet, so 
as to destroy the loopholes on the sides of attack. After the second cannonade had been 
some time continued, fire was opened in that direction by our gunboats, but their shells 
passed over and exploded far beyond the enemy's batteries. Some shells from the town 
seemed to be better elevated and better timed, but were without apparent effect. The last 
two shells from the gunboats struck and exploded, one on the parapet, the other upon the 
traverse covering the door of the magazine, both in perfect range for the magazine. 
Shortly after the firing ceased, and demand was made for a surrender. The officers 
present, including Capt. Chapin, were consulted before replying. A large force was known 
to be between the redoubt and the town cutting off ccmmunicatioin. The cartridges were 
nearly expended, only half a dozen grenades were left, our gunners were disabled, the pris- 
oners were a great embarrassment; there was no means of spiking the guns or of making 
signals. There appeared in the darkness no hope of efficient help from the gunboats or 
from the town batteries, and the fire received from the gunboats, if repeated, left no safe 
place in the work. It was unanimously decided to be a useless waste of life to continue 
the contest longer, and that it was best to surrender. Posession was given the works about 
11 P. M. 

The total casualties in Co. K. 85th N. Y. Vols., were Capt. N. Chapin, mortally 



BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH. 279 

wounded, 1 sergeant killed, and 3 other enlisted men wounded (1 mortally) ; and of Co. H, 
2d Mass, Heavy Artillery, 6 wounded (2 supposed mortally). 

I cannot speak too highly of the spirit and conduct of the men of my own company, 
to whom, in the subordinate position I held during the greater part of the engagement, my 
attention was principally confined. No fear of their readiness to fight as long as required 
was among the considerations leading to the surrender. Wagoner Dana E. Allen and 
Private Nason F. Chace were especially worthy of praise for their bravery in helping to 
man the guns when panially deserted, the first, after he himself was wounded. 

I am able to learn no more of Capt. Chapin after he was left in care of the enemy 
than that he died at some temporary hospital, or on his way to one, before morning. 

The force making the assault was Kemper's brigade and the 21st Georgia Regiment, 
all led by Col. Mercer, of the 21st Ga., who was killed before the redoubt. We were told 
that the enemy lost before the redoubt 60 in killed alone, and a large number of wounded. 
Appearances in the vicinity, so well as we could judge in the darkness, indicated that they 
nad lost severely. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

L. A. Butts, 1st Lieut. 85th N. Y. Vols. 
Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells, Late Comdg. District of the Albemarle, N. C. (0. R., Ser. I, 

Vol. XXXIII, pp. 301-303). 

"The defenses on the left of Fort Williams (the central work) consist of open 
works, and are dependent upon the gunboats. The gunboats were forced out of the river, 
the iron-clads attacked these works in rear, and they soon became untenable. The land 
forces entered the town on the flank. Had all the works been enclosed, the results would 
have been very different." (O. R., Ser. 1, Vol. XXXIII, p. 293.) 

ADDENDA. 

Return of casualties in the Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry W. 
Wessells, at Plymouth, N. C, April 17-20, 1864: 

Commands — Officers. Men. Total. 

Staff 10 ... 10 

16th Connecticut 23 440 463 

2d Mass. Heavy Art'y, Cos. G and H 7 262 269 

2d North Carolina, Cos. B and E 4 162 166 

12th New York Cavalry, Cos. A and F 3 118 121 

85th New York 26 518 544 

24th New York Batter)' 2 120 122 

101st Pennsylvania 27 382 409 

103d Pennsylvania 24 461 485 

Unattached recruits 1 244 245 

Total killed, wounded and missing 127 2,707 2,834 

Hdqrs. Army and Dist. of N. C, New Bern, N. C, April 21, 1864. 
General Order No. 66. 

With feelings of the deepest sorrow the commanding general announces the fall of 
Plymouth. N. C, and the capture of the gallant commander, Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells, 
and his command. This result, however, did not obtain until after the most gallant and 
determined resistance had been made. Five times the enemy stormed the lines of the gen- 
eral, and as many times were they handsomely repulsed with great slaughter, and but for 
the powerful assistance of the rebel iron-clad ram and the floating iron sharpshooter bat- 
tery, the Cotton Plant, Plymouth would still have been in our hands. 

For their noble defense the gallant Gen. Wessells and his brave band deserve the 
warmest thanks of the whole country, while all will sympathize with them in their mis- 
fortune. 

To the officers and men of the navy the commanding general tenders his thanks for 
their hearty co-operation with the army and the bravery, determination, and coolness that 
marked their part of the unequal contest. 

With sorrow he records the death of the noble sailor and gallant patriot, Lieut. 
Com. C. W. Flusser, U. S. Navy, v;ho in the heat of battle fell dead on the deck of his 
ship, with the lanyard of his gun in his hand. The commanding general believes that these 
misfortunes will tend not to discourage but to nerve the Army of North Carolina to equal 
deeds of bravery and gallantry hereafter. 

Until further orders, the headquarters of the Sub-district of the Albermarle will be 
at Roanoke Island The command devolves upon Col. D. W. Wardrop. of the 99th New 
York Volunteer Infantry. By Command of Maj. Gen. John J. Peck; 

J. A. Judson, Assistant Adiutant General. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, p. 295.) 



280 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 



THE POINT OF VIEW. 

When the writer assumed the functions of Regimental historian he obUgated 
himself to tell the part his Regiment played in the great drama of the Civil War. 
With a full sense of the duties implied by this obligation he has carefully examined 
the official records and all authentic writings, giving special attention to all mooted 
questions, which had a direct bearing on the activities of the Regiment. Fully 
forty per cent of the original Regiment leaving the State March 2, 1862, for the 
seat of war sleep in Southern g'raves. This excessive mortality was chiefly due 
to confinement in Southern prisons. Therefore, to tell the full story of the R^- 
ment, reference must be made to the darkest page in the history of the war, life 
in Andersonville and Florence military prisons. 

The writer has no sympathy with the charg^e that the Southern people were re- 
sponsible for the inhuman brutalities that occurred at Andersonville and Florence. 
Neither does he believe the Confederate authorities in any way desired to add 
to the rigors of imprisonment. That atrocities were committed by individuals that 
were indefensible will not be disputed by any candid person examining the record, 
but it should be remem'bered that abnormal conditions obtained ; the two sections 
of the country were engaged in a life and death struggle ; both believed they were 
right ; and human passions were aroused, as never before on this continent. 

The paraphrased indictment against war used, describing conditions in 
Andersonville prison may seem harsh and overdrawn, yet the writer believes the 
compilation which follows justifies its use. It is in no sense aimed at the Con- 
federate authorities or the Southern people, but is used because of the graphic 
description of the terrible conditions prevailing in Andersonville prison, which, in 
an attempt to describe in an official paper, one of the most eminent physicians 
of the Confederacy, a man of the highest probity and universally esteemed where- 
ever he was known, Dr. Joseph Jones, said : "The haggard distressed countenance 
of these miserable^ complaining, dejected, living skeletons, crying for medical aid 
and food, and cursing their government for its refusal to exchange prisoners, and 
the ghastly corpses, with their glased eyeballs staring up into vacant space, with 
the Hies swarming down their open and grinning mouths, and over their clothes 
infested imth numerous lice, as they lay amongst the sick and dying, formed a 
picture of helpless, hopeless misery, which it ivould be impossible to portray by 
words or by the brush." 




PLAN OF ANDERSONVILLE PRISON AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 



10. 



Care-taker's House, erected by the Na- 
tional W. R. C. 
Providence Spring. 

Site of proposed National Monument. 
Outline of purchased property. 
Outline of stockade enclosing prisoners. 
Outline of Outer Stockade (only partly 
completed). 
Dead Line. 

Confederate Forts and Batteries. 
Main Fort, or "Star Fort," southwest 
comer. 

Site of Gallows, where marauders were 
hung. 



11. Powder Magazine in Star Fort. 

12. Site of Capt. Wlrz's Headquarters. 

13. Gate to Roadway leading to the Ceme- 
tery. 

14. Wells and tunnels dug by prisoners. 
In. Site of Dead House. 

16. Eiitrenched Camp for Guards. 

17. Roadway, 100 feet wide, leading to rail- 
road. 

18. Stockade Creek, a branch of Sweetwater. 

19. North Gate of Stockade. 

20. South Gate of Stockade. 

21. Flag Staff. 



(The above plate is used here by courtesy of the State of Connecticut.) 



ANDERSONVILLE. 281 

LIFE IN ANDERSONVILLE AND FLORENCE CONFEDERATE MILI- 
TARY PRISONS. 

Appeals made for an Exchange of Prisoners— Why the Exchange was 
NOT Made— Confederate Official Reports of Conditions. 
We have the testimony of those most competent to speak with authority that 
^'War is hell." If any one should doubt it let him read the story of Andersonville 
and Florence military prisons as compiled in this volume. Not the story as mag- 
nified by rumor and report, or colored by partisan imagination, or tmctured by 
the hate which war breeds in the minds of some of the best of men, but the 
records of unbiased witnesses whose testimony needs no corroboration. 

Some of the evidence presented here has already had wide circulation in the 
South by Dr. R. Randolph Stevenson, for a time Chief Surgeon of Andersonville 
prison, in his book published in 1876, entitled "The Southern Side" or "Ander- 
sonville Prison." In the preface to this work Dr. Stevenson says: 

"T>,» t«<=k- nf writing- this the darkest page in the history of the struggle between the 
believing that all should be known." 

In the same spirit, but with a different purpose, Life in Andersonville and 
Florence Confederate Military Prisons appears in this volume. It is, indeed, 
"the darkest page in the history of the struggle between the States" ; "a^tale of 
horror, of woe and death before unheard and unknown to civilization." This 
compilation can be summarized by slightly paraphrasing the words of another: 
"The history of Andersonville and Florence prisons has startled and shocked the 
world with a tale of horror, of woe and death before unheard and unknown to 
civilization No pen can describe, no painter sketch, no imagination comprehend 
its fearful and unutterable misery. It would seem as if the concentrated madness 
of earth and hell had found its final lodgement in the prisons at Andersonville 
and Florence, for there was the most terrible human sacrifice which has occurred 
in any war in the history of the world. Into these narrow walls were crowded 
more than thirty thousand enlisted men, many of them the bravest and best, the 
most devoted and heroic of those grand armies which carried the flag of their 
countrv to final victory. For long and weary months there they suffered, mad- 
dened,' were murdered, and died. There they lingered unsheltered from the 
burning rays of a tropical sun by day, and drenching and deadly dews by night, 
in every stage of mental and physical disease, hungered, emaciated, starving, 
maddened; festering with unhealed wounds; gnawed by the ravages of scurvy 
and gangrene: with swollen limb and distorted visage; covered with vermin, 
which they had no power to extirpate; exposed to the flooding rains which drove 
them drowning from the miserable holes in which, like swme, they burrowed; 
parched with thirst and mad with hunger; racked with pain or prostrated with 
the weakness of dissolution ; with naked limbs and matted hair; filthy with smoke 
and mud: soiled with the veiy excrement from which their weakness would not 
permit them to escape; eaten by the gnawing worms which their own wounds 
had engendered; with no bed but the earth; no covering but the cloud or the 
sky these men, these heroes, born in the image of God. thus crouching and 



282 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

writhing in their terrible torture will stand forth in history as an indictment of 
the demoralization and cruelty and horror of war." 

This story is not presented in this volume with any desire to arouse the 
passions engendered by the Civil War, nor to revive controversies as to the 
responsibility for the indescribable suffering of these pestilential spots. The 
investigation which this compilation has involved has thoroughly convinced the 
writer that the "tale of horror, of woe and death" was not confined to one side 
alone, as the oflficial records show the percentage of mortality was nearly as great 
in the Federal military prisons as in those in the South. The function of the 
Regimental historian, however, makes it incumbent on him to show the part his 
Regiment played in suppressing the Rebellion. Death on the field of battle has 
been so exalted, that the idea generally prevails that the men who die leading 
the forlorn hope exhibit the highest degree of courage. In the judgment of the 
writer, the men who languished and died in the military prisons of the South,, 
after enduring the horrors and miseries of these places for months were not 
surpassed in indomitable courage and heroic devotion to duty by any who fell in 
charging the ranks of the enemy, and that these men did fully as much in con- 
quering peace as those who comprised the armies of Grant and Sherman. 

xA.fter a four days' contest against a superior force of the enemy, and when 
further resistance was not only futile, but absolutely reckless, the 103d Regiment 
(excepting one company) with three other regiments, and several small detach- 
ments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery capitulated April 20, 1864, at Plymouth, 
N. C. According to "Regimental Losses in the Civil War," (p. 524) by Col. Wil- 
liam F. Fox, of the four infantry regiments captured at' Plymouth, 715 died in 
Confederate prisons as follows: i6th Connecticut, 154; 85th New York, 222; loist 
Pennsylvania, 158; 103d Pennsylvania, 181. The aggregate number of these four 
regiments captured was less than 2,000, officers and men. On the same day the 
Plymouth captives entered Andersonville prison, May 2, 1864, Gen. Meade issued 
orders for the Army of the Potomac to move towards the armies of Gen. Lee. 

Gen. Grant was commissioned Lieutenant-General on March 9, 1864, and 
assigned to the command of the armies of the United States. On the following 
day, March 10, he visited the Army of the Potomac and announced to Gen. Meade 
his intention of making his headquarters with that army. The reasons for this 
determination mentioned in the "Military History of Gen. Grant," by Gen. Badeau, 
were, "the transcendent importance of the issues in Virginia upon which the fate 
of both the national and rebel capital depended," and the fact that the force op- 
posed to the Army of the Potomac "was the strongest, the best led, and the best 
appointed" army in the Confederate service. On April 14, Secre- 
tary Stanton submitted the report of Gen. Butler in respect to his regrilations with 
Mr. Ould, Confederate commissioner of exchange, touching the exchange of pris- 
oners and requested him to give Gen. Butler such instructions as he deemed proper. 
On the same date, referring to the above report. Gen. Grant wired Gen. Butler as 
follows : "Until examined by me, and my orders thereon are received by you, 
decline all further negotiations." On the very day the Plymouth garrison became 
prisoners of war the following telegraphic correspondence occurred (O. R. Ser. 
II, Vol. VII, page 76.) : From Gen. Butler to Gen. Grant: "Instructions in re- 



ANDERSONVILLE. 283 

^ard to exchange of prisoners received and Avill be implicitly followed. I assume, 
however, that they are not intended to interfere with the special exchanges of sick 
and wounded prisoners on one side and the other now going on. To this Gen 
Grant replied : "Receive all the sick and wounded the Confederate authorities will 
send you, but send no more in exchange. 

The campaign of Gen. Grant against the army of Gen. Lee was simultaneous 
with the suffering and mortality of Andersonville, and Florence military prisons 
Andersonville prison was established during the last week of Februarys 1864. and 
became crowded a few weeks later. The total number confined there from that 
time until the war ended was 45,613. of whom 12,912 died during confinement 
there The men confined at Florence were largely from these 45,613, confined at 
Andersonville The total number of deaths given as at Andersonville were buried 
there during the time the prison was there. There is no record of those who died 
enroute and at Florence, Charleston, Wilmington, etc., but the aggregate must 
have be'en several thousands more. Certainly the mortality resulting from the 
imprisonment at Andersonville and Florence equalled the 15,139 killed in Gen. 
Grant's armies from the Wilderness to Appomattox. Meade's army, at Gettys- 
burg approximating 100,000 men, lost in killed, and died of wounds received in 
action, 5,291, considerably less than half the number of the deaths at Anderson- 
ville alone. 

The official statements of Gen. Grant leave no doubt, that in his judgment 
an exchange of prisoners of war during the campaigns of 1864, would have caused 
the defeat of Sherman's army, and imperilled the safety of the armies under his 
immediate command. That President Lincoln concurred in these views the action 
of the Federal Government conclusively proves. Nothmg but the general welfare 
of the Nation could have gained his acquiescence to Gen Grant s position. Wli 1 e 
investing the commandin| general of all the armies with full ^V^^h^^^^y/^, ^^^^P^^/ 
of these armies according to his best judgrnent he ^^ no time abdicated the func- 
tions as Commander in Chief. "From the hour Abraham Lmcoln crossed the 
threshhold of the White House to the hour he went thence to his death there was 
not a moment when he did not dominate the political and military situation and all 
his official subordinates." From the 4th day of March, 1861, until 10:30 P M 
April 14, 1865, he was Commander-in-Chief of all the armies and navies of the 

United States. r 1 • u 

Abraham Lincoln was a great man; among the statesmen of the nineteenth 
centurv he towered above them all. In a superlative degree he possessed the qual- 
ities most essential to human greatness-<:ourage, integrlt>^ intellect, compassion, 
and thorough consecration to his ideals. In him these attributes were so perfectly 
blended as to make him the master spirit of his time. If either of these qualities 
was more predominant than the others it was his compassion. The appeals that 
were made to him on behalf of the men suffering in Southern prisons must have 
caused him agony second only to that of Gethsemane. Only a supreme military 
necessity, in which he believed the very integrity of the nation was at stake, cou d 
have made him apparently obdurate, in face of the petitions that were made to 
him for an exchange of prisoners. His concurrence in G^n. Grant s policy is 
evidence that he, too, believed that the success of the armies of Sherman and 
Grant made it necessary for the men in Andersonville to continue to battle against 
miserv <^qualor and death. What thev suffered is best told by the official state- 
ments of the Confederate surgeons and inspector-generals whose proper function 
it Ax-as to report the condition of the prisons and the inmates. They certainly had 
no motive for exaggerating the miserA' and suffering that occurred there. 



284 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

APPEALS MADE TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON BEHALF OF THE PRISONERS 

OF WAR. 

GEN. FOSTER TO GEN. HALLECK. 

Hdqrs. Dept. of the South, Hilton Hxad, S. C, Aug. 4, 1864. 

Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C. : General: The in- 
formation given by our prisoners of war, now liberated, and by deserters, also by the late 
rebel papers, represent that our soldiers now prisoners at Andersonyille, Ga., are destitute 
of comforts and necessaries, and are rapidly dying. The number of deaths per day varies, 
according to reports, from 30 to TO. I do not know what the wishes of the Government 
may be, but if it desire that our imprisoned soldiers may be exchanged, so as to relieve 
them from their distress, I can easily have the matter arranged with the Confederate au- 
.thorities so as to effect an exchange here. The exchange can be made by way of the 
Savannah River, and we can easily arrange to guard any number of prisoners on our 
islands here, and to supply them at least as bountifully as our own men are supplied that 
are in the hands of the enemy. I think the Confederate authorities are very desirous to 
have an exchange effected, both of officers and men. The insecure position in which our 
prisoners have been confined probably causes this desire. They have already been obliged 
to remove our officers from Macon, and 600 of them have already arrived in Charleston 
and the others are to follow ; this from its being the only secure place and the hope that 
it may induce to a still further exchange. I shall notify Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones that no 
more exchanges will be made through Charleston Harbor, and that if any are authorized 
by the Goverrmient they will be made by the Savannah River. The effect of this is to 
induce them to remove our officers from Charleston to Savannah, so that our fire may be 
continued on the city without the risk of hurting our friends. I have, however, taken 
pains to ascertain where our prisoners were confined so as to direct the fire to the other 
parts. * * * 

J. G. FOSTER, Major-General-Commanding. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XXXV, part II, p. 213.) 

Headquarters Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, S. C, Aug. 18, 1864. 

Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck * * *: The rebels are anxious to exchange. They say 
that their desire is that two old regular officers like Jones and myself may have charge of 
this matter, so that it may be fairly done without any political jars and interruptions. They 
desire to have all exchanged, both officers (1,800) and men (37,000). Although the men 
are not now in Gen. Jones' command, he can have them sent forward at any time. Jones 
seems well disposed, so our released prisoners say. He sent an apology to Gen. Wessells 
for placing 600 officers under fire in Charleston. He stated that he did not place them 
there to be under fire, but that they were merely en route. The truth is that they are so 
short of men as guards that they have no place to put their prisoners in except Charleston 
and Savannah. If an exchange is authorized I shall specify that those in Charleston be 
first exchanged, and that no others be placed there. As far as injury to them goes there 
can be none, for I know their exact position and direct the shells accordingly. * * * 
There is a growing discontent and misery in the enemy's lines. Every one is trying to get 
out through our lines. * * * 

J. G. FOSTER, Maj. Gen. Commanding. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XXXV. part II, pp. 247-248.) 

GEN. STONEMAN, COLS. DORR AND HARRISON TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

C. S. Prison, Charleston, S. C, Aug. 14, 1863. 
The President of the United States : 

The condition of the enlisted men belonging to the Federal armies now prisoners to 
the Confederate rebel forces is such that it becomes our duty, and the duty of every com- 
missioned officer, to make known the facts in the case to the Government of the United 
States and to use every honorable effort to secure a general exchange of prisoners, thereby 
relieving thousands of our comrades from the horrors now surrounding them. For some 
time past there has been a concentration of prisoners from all parts of the rebel territory 
to the State of Georgia, the commissioned officers being confined at Macon and the enlisted 
men at Andersonville. * * * 

Col. Hill, provost-marshal-general, C. S. Army, at Atlanta, states to one of the under- 
signed that there were 35,000 prisonsrs at Andersonville. * * * About one-third have 
various kinds of indifferent shelter, but upwards of 20,000 are wholly without shelter or 
shade of any kind and are exposed to the storms and rains which are of almost daily oc- 
currence. The cold dews of night and the more terrible effects of the sun striking with 
almost tropical fierceness upon their unprotected heads, this mass of men jostle and crowd 
each other up and down the limits of their inclosure in storm and sun, and then lie down 



ANDERSONVILLE. 285 

on the pitiless earth at night with no covering than the clothing upon their backs, few of 
them having: even a blanket. * * * .,, . , ^, . , 

Let 35,000 suffering, starving, and dying enhsted men aid this appeal to the Chief 
Magistrate of the Republic for prompt and decisive action in their behalf. 
T. B. DORR, Colonel 8th Iowa Cavalry. 
T J. HARRISON, Colonel, 8th Indiana Cavalry. 
GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-General U. S. Volunteers. 

(O. R. Ser. II. Vol. VII, pp. 616-618.) 

MINUTES OF ANDERSONVILLE MEETING. 

Excerpts from the minutes of a meeting of the sergeants commanding detachments 
of prisoners at Andersonville, Ga., to represent the condition of the prisoners to the Gov- 
ernment at JVashingion: 

No one can know the horrors of imprisonment in crowded and filthy quarters but 
him who has endured it, and it requires a brave heart not to succumb. But hunger, filth, 
nakedness, squalor, and disease are as nothing compared wth the heartsickness which wears 
prisoners down, most of them young men whose terms of enlistment have expired, and many 
of them nothing to attach them to the cause in which they suffer but principle and love of 
country and of friends. Does the misfortune of being taken prisoner make us less the 
object 'of interest and value to our Government? If such you plead, plead it no longer. 
These are no common men, and it is no common merit that they call upon you to aid in 
their release from captivity. We, the undersigned sergeants in the U. S. Army, having in 
charge the various detachments of prisoners now confined in Andersonville, Ga., would re- 
spectfully represent : 

Second. That there are now confined in this prison from 25,000 to 30,000 men, with 
daily accessions of hundreds, and that the mortality among them, generated by various 
causes, such as change of climate, dirt, and want of proper exercise, is becoming truly 
frightful to contemplate, and is rapidly increasing in virulence, decimating their ranks by 
hundreds weekly. 

Third. In view of the foregoing facts, we, your petitioners, most earnestly yet re- 
spectfully pray that some action be immediately taken to effect_ our speedy release, either on 
parole or by exchange, the dictates both of humanity and justice alike demanding it on the 
part of our Government. 

Fifth. The above has been read to each detachment by its respective sergeant and 
been approved by the men, who have unanimously authorized each sergeant to sign as will 
and deed of the whole. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 618-619.) 

REV. ANDERSON TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

RoxABELL, Ohio, Sept. 4, 1864. 

His Excellency President Lincoln: Dear Sir: "Blessed is he that considereth the 
poor." My business as an agent for one of our church boards has given me an oppor- 
tunity of becoming extensively acquainted with the views and feelings of the ministers and 
prominent members of the Presbyterian churches of Southern and Western Ohio. I find 
everywhere the most intense feeling of dissatisfaction at the policy of the Administration 
relative to our suffering prisoners at Andersonville, Ga. Those people were and are your 
warmest political friends. Those ministers and people labored earnestly to fill your call 
for volunteers from the beginning of our national war, very many of them urging their 
own sons to enter the list. Many of those ministers have sons and scores of members now 
in prison, taken at Chickamauga and Gettysburg. The authenticated accounts of their suf- 
ferings at Andersonville have brought several graj'-haired mothers to their graves and 
others to the insane asylum. Fathers and mothers who wept, but yet thanked God for 
such noble sons, when they heard of them falling gloriously on the battle-field, have sick- 
ened and fainted under the consuming suspense and burmng anxiety caused by the long 
imprisonment and ineffable sufferings of other sons, compelled to endure more than the 
horrors of the Inquisition in that terrible open field pen. They are naked, without shelter 
by day and by night, starved, eaten by vermin, the filthiest of water, no soap, no blankets, 
sickening dying, rotting as they stagger and fall to rise no more Many hoped and prayed 
long and waited your strong arm to come to the relief, but Hope deferred maketh the 
heart sick" and they have sunk into despair and insanits'. From 6,000 to 8,000 have died 
and found such graves as no good man would put a dog into Now is it to be wondered at 
that these good fathers and friends should manifest dissatisfaction? Your failure to com- 
olv with the rebel proposition to a mutual exchange of physicians increases this dissatisfac- 
tion Now in spite of the world, this policy will affect our coming elections. Our enemies 
are making use of this with effect. To render things worse is the fact that these sorrow- 
ing parents can get no letters nor boxes to their sons, and many of these good and influ- 
ential men have come to the deliberate conclusion that their noble sons are the victims of 



286 CONFEDER.-\TE PRISON LIFE 

a heartless, cruel neglect. Dr. Steel said, "If anything could be more cruel than the rebel 
treatment of our sons, it is the criminal neglect shown them by our authorities." Dr. Gould 
pronounces it, "the result of a negligent Administration." Rev. Warner: "The grossest 
neglect and ingratitude of the powers that be toward our gallant boys." Rev. Gibson, that 
"he can never again respect Lincoln, Stanton, or Butler." All hold you responsible. Oh, 
for God's sake, interpose! It is crushing the patriotism out of the poor prisoners and em- 
bittering hundreds of thousands of their friends. Those worse than murdered men you 
will meet at the bar of God. It is everywhere considered the refinement of cruelty. I write 
in love but in earnest. We know you can have them exchanged if you give your attention 
to it. It is simple murder to neglect it longer. Your political friend, 

D. C. ANDERSON. 
I concur in these statements. 
J. H. BROWN. 
(0. R. Ser. I, Vol. VII, pp. 767-768.) 

CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

Chicago, Oct 20, 1864. 

His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States: The undersigned 
members of the Board of Trade of the city of Chicago, having been informed from au- 
thentic sources that a large number of Federal soldiers are languishing in Southern prisons, 
especially at Andersonville, Ga., destitute of shelter from rain and from the burning rays 
of the sun, without sufficient clothing to cover their nakedness ; and that they are famish- 
ing with hunger that would gladly be appeased by the flesh, of horses and of mules, and are 
consequently dying in untold numbers, pray you to effect an honorable exchange of pris- 
oners without delay, or to retaliate by subjecting rebel prisoners to the same treatment in 
all respects. 

We are aware that this, our petition, savors of cruelty, and no earthly consideration 
could induce us to inaugurate the measure were it not that the sufferings of our brothers 
in the field, who have gone forth to battle for the life of the government with the assur- 
ance of all possible protection and care, appeals to us in a manner which induces us to 
urge retaliatory measures as a matter of necessity. 

We claim not to be excelled in loyalty by any portion of the country and pledge 
ourselves for the prosecution of the war until the complete restoration of the Union is 
accomplished, asking no more and urging you to submit to nothing less than that such 
measures as rebels mete to loyal soldiers shall be measured to them again, whether in 
prison or on the battle-field. 

They fire upon our pickets, we retailiate; they meet us in the open field and engage 
in wholesale slaughter, and we retaliate; they take our soldiers prisoners and submit them 
to such treatment as is sure to engender disease, starvation, death; but the prisoners taken 
by us are clothed, fed, and as comfortably cared for as are our own men, and when an 
exchange of prisoners is made we give them soldiers hale and hearty, ready to again enter 
the field and give us battle, but receive in return men pale and emaciated, fit only for the 
hospital. We deem it due to them, especially to those now in Southern prisons, to protest 
against this unequal warfare. If consideration and kindly treatment of prisoners could 
awaken in our enemies a suificient sense of humanity to lead to a reciprocity of treatment 
these abuses would have been corrected long ago. 

It is not too much to say that nothing in the conduct of the war presents so great 
an obstacle to those who would otherwise volunteer, and nothing will cause the drafted sol- 
dier to take such reluctant steps to the field so much as the dread of the horrors of 
Southern prisons. The object of this petition is not to give you information upon what we 
know you lament as well as we, but to give you an idea of public opinion formed upon a 
stem necessity. This petition was presented to the full board at their session on this day 
and was unanimously adopted by them. 

With high consideration, sir, your obedient servants, 

JOHN L. HANCOCK, President. 
JNO. F. BEATY, Secretary. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII. pp. 1014-1015.) 

GEN. GRANT'S VIEWS ON THE EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS OF WAR. 
MAJ. GEN. BUTLER TO LIEUT. GEN. GRANT. 

Fort Monroe, Apr. 20. 1864. 
Lieut. Gen. Grant, Washington, D. C. : Instructions in regard to exchange of pris- 
oners received and will be implicitly followed. I assume, however, that they are not in- 
tended to interfere with the special exchanges of sick and wounded pnsoners on one side 

and the other now going on. „,,^, ^„ .^ • /- i /- j 

BEN J. F. BUTLER, Major General Comdg. 



ANDERSONVILLE. 287 

GEN. GRANT TO GEN. BUTLER. 
[Telegram— Time sent 9:30 P. M.] 
Office United States Miutary Telegraph, War Department, 

Washington. D. C., Apr. 20, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. : 

Receive all the sick and wounded the Confederate authorities will send you, but send 
no more in exchange. 

U. S. GRANT. Lieutenant General. 
(Report on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 1868-1869, p. 541.) 

GEN. GRANT TO GEN. BUTLER. 

City Point, Va., Aug. 18, 1864. 

Maj. Gen. Butler Commanding, etc.: I am satisfied that the object of your interview 
had the proper sanction and therefore meets with my entire approval. I have seen from 
Southern papers that a system of retaliation is going on in the South which they keep from 
us and which we should stop in some way. On the subject of exchange, however, I differ 
from Gen. Hitchcock. It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons not to exchange 
them, but it is huynanity to those left hi the ranks to fight our battles. Every man we hold, 
when released on parole or otherwise, becomes an active soldier against us at once either 
directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all prisoners 
taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those 
caught they amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time to release all rebel 
prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat and would compromise our safety here. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

(O. R. Sen II, Vol. VII, page 607.) 

GEN. GRANT TO SECRETARY SEWARD. 

City Point, Va., Aug. 19, 1864. 
Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. : "* * * We ought not 
to make a single exchange nor release a prisoner on any pretext whatever until the war 
closes. We have got to fight until, the militar}' power of the South is exhausted, and if we 
release or exchange prisoners captured it simply becomes a war of extermination." 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 614-615.) 

GEN. GRANT TO SECRETARY STANTON. 

City Point, Va., Aug. 21, 1864r— 5 P. M. 
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: Please inform Gen. Foster that under 
no circumstances will he be authorized to make exchange of prisoners of war. Exchanges 
simply re-enforce the enemy at once, whilst we do not get the benefit of those received for 
two or three months and lose the majority entirely. I telegraph this from just hearing that 
some 500 or 600 more prisoners had been sent to Gen. Foster. 

U. S. GR.A.NT, Lieutenant-General. 
(Report Treatment Prisoners of War, pp. 568-569.) 

GEN. GRANT BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. 

From testimony of Gen. Grant before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct 
of the War, at Washington, D. C, Feb. 11, 1865: 

Question. "It is stated * * * that you are charged entirely with the exchange of 
prisoners?" Answer. "That is correct: and what is more, I have effected an arrangement 
for the exchange of prisoners, man for man and officer for officer, or his equivalent, ac- 
cording to the old cartel, until one or the other party has exhausted the number they now 
hold." 

Question. "It has been said that we refused to exchange prisoners because we found 
ours starved, diseased, and unserviceable when we received them, and did not like to ex- 
change sound men for such men?" Answer. "There never has been any such reason as 
that. That has been a reason for making exchanges. I will confess that if our men who 
are prisoners in the South were really well taken care of, suffering nothing except a little 
privation of liberty, then, in a military point of view, it would not be good policy for us to 
exchange, because every man they get back is forced right into the army at once, while that 
is not the case with our prisoners when we receive them. * * * Still, the fact of their 
suffering as they do is a reason for making this exchange as rapidly as possible." 

Question. "And never has been a reason for not making the exchange?" Answer. 
"It never has. Exchanges have been suspended by reason of disagreement on the part of 
agents of exchange on both sides before I came in command of the armies of the United 
States, and it then being near the opening of the spring campaign, I did not deem it ad- 
visable or just to the men who had to fight our battles to re-inforce the enemy with thirty 
or forty thousand disciplined troops at that time. An immediate resumption of exchanges 
would have had the effect without giving us corresponding benefits. The suffering said to 



288 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

exist among our prisoners South was a powerful argument against the course pursued, and 
I so felt it." (Report on the Conduct of the War, Vol. Ill, pages 76-77.) 
PRESIDENT UNCOLN TO GEN. GRANT. 

Executive Mansion^ Washington, Oct. 9, 1864. 

I inclose you a copy of correspondence in regard to a contemplated exchange of 
naval prisoners through your lines, and not very distant from your headquarters. It only 
came to the knowledge of the War Department and of myself yesterday, and it gives us 
some uneasiness. I therefore send it to you with the statement that as the numbers to be 
exchanged under it are small, and so much has already been done to effect the exchange, I 
hope you may find it consistent to let it go forward under the general supervision of Gen. 
Butler, and particularly in reference to the points he holds vital in exchanges. Still you are 
at liberty to arrest the whole operation if in your judgment the public good requires it. 
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. 

Lieut. Gen. Grant. 

(Report on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, p. 564.) 

GEN. GR.\NT TO GEN. BUTLER. 
Headquarters Armies of the United States, City Point, Va., Oct. 11, 1864. 
General : I inclose you the letter of the President to me, together with all other 
papers relating to the exchange of naval prisoners of war now in the James River, and turn 
the whole matter over to you to conduct. In our conversation yesterday I explained the 
point in Secretary Welles' correspondence, which the President was afraid might involve 
us in trouble if retained by him. In conducting this exchange, ignore all that has been 
done heretofore in the matter, but make the exchange man for man, yielding no point be- 
fore insisted on. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-Cjeneral. 
Maj. Gen. B. F. Butler, Comdg. Army of the James. 
(Report Treatment Prisoners of War, p. 567.) 

SECRET.^RY STANTON TO GEN. GRANT. 

Headquarters Armies of the United States, Oct. 15, 1864. 

General : A communication signed R. Ould, agent of exchange, dated Oct. 7, instant, 
mailed at Fort Monroe, and addressed to me, is herewith referred to you, together with a 
paper that accompanied it, bearing the same signature, dated Oct. 6, and addressed to Maj. 
John E. Mulford, assistant agent of exchange. You are authorized and instructed to take 
such action in reference to said papers and the subject-matter to which they relate as you 
may deem best adapted to the relief of our soldiers held as prisoners by the rebels. You 
are also authorized to take any steps that you may deem proper to effect the releaseand 
exchange. of our soldiers and all loyal persons held as prisoners by the rebel authorities. 
It is the desire of the President that no efforts consistent with national safety and honor 
be spared to effect the prompt release of all soldiers and loyal persons in captivity to the 
rebels as prisoners of war, or on any other grounds; and the subject is committed to you 
with full authority to act in the premises as you shall deem right and proper. 

By order of the President: 

Lieut. Gen. Grant. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 662.) 

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 

GEN. H-\LLECK TO GEN. FOSTER. 

Headquarters, Washington, June 19, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, Commanding Dept. of the South: General. The Secretary of 
War authorizes you to exchange any prisoners of war now in your hands, rank for rank, 
or their equivalents, as fixed by the cartel; such exchange being a special one. 

^ H. W. HALLECK. 

GEN. HALLECK TO GEN. CANBY. 
Headquarters of the Army, Washington, Sept. 6, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. Canby, New Orleans: General: * * * i presume that Gen. Grant's 
order to make no more exchanges of prisoners was based on the fact that they gave us 
only such men as they have utterly broken down by starvation, receiving in return from 
us men fit for duty. Every exchange, therefore, gives them strength, without a corre- 
sponding advantage to us. Not so, however, with exchanges made on the battle-field or 
immediately after an engagement. Exchanges of this kind, made man for man, as provided for 
in the cartel. Gen. Grant did not intend to prohibit. You and the officers under your_ com- 
mand are therefore at liberty to continue the exchanges in the field, as provided for in' the 
last clause of Article 7 of the cartel of July 22, 1862. 
Very respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

H W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 776.) 



ANDERSONVILLE. 289 

COMMISSIONER OULD TO MAJ. MULFORD. 

War Dept., Richmond, Va., Aug. 10. 1864. 
Maj. John E. Mulford, Assistant Agent of Exchange : Sir : You have several times 
proposed to me to exchange the prisoners respectively held by the two belligerents, officer 
for officer and man for man. The same offer has also been made by other officials having 
charge of matters connected with the exchange of prisoners. This proposal has heretofore 
been declined by the Confederate authorities, they insisting upon the terms of the cartel, 
■which required the delivery of the excess on either side upon parole. In view, however, of 
the very large number of prisoners now held by each party, and the suffering consequent 
upon their confinement, I now consent to the above proposal, and agree to deliver to you 
the prisoners held in captivity by the Confederate authorities, provided you agree to de- 
liver an equal number of Confederate officers and men. As equal numbers are delivered 
from time to time they will be declared exchanged. This proposal is made with the under- 
standing that the officers and men who have been longest in captivity will be the first de- 
livered, where it is practicable. I shall be happy to hear from you as speedily as possible 
whether this arrangement can be carried out. Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 578-579.) 

COMMISSIONER OULD TO GEN. HITCHCOCK 

Richmond, Va., Aug. 22, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. E. A. Hitchcock, U. S. Commissioner for Exchange : Sir : Inclosed is a 
copy of a communication which on the 10th instant I addressed and delivered to Maj. John 
E. Mulford, assistant agent for exchange. [See preceding letter.] Under the circum- 
stances of the case I deem it proper to forward this paper to you, in order that you may 
fully understand the position which is taken by the Confederate authorities. I shall be 
glad if the proposition therein made is accepted by your Government. 
Respectfully your obedient servant, 

RO. OULD, Agent for Exchange. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 667.) 

MAJ. GEN. SAM. JONES TO GEN. FOSTER. 

Hdqrs. Deft, of S. Carolina, Georgia and Florida, 

Charleston, S. C, Aug. 20, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. Foster, Commanding Dept. of the South, Hilton Head : General : * * * 
I am ready at any time to send you every prisoner of war in this department if you will 
give me in exchange an equal number of C. S. prisoners, man for man, rank for rank, or 
their equivalenL * * * 

SAM JONES, Major-General. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VH, p. 625.) 

ANDERSONVILLE PRISON— OFFICIAL REPORTS. 
REPORT OF GEN. HOWELL COBB. 
Headquarters Georgia Reserves, Macon, Ga., May 5, 1864. 

Gen. S. Cooper, Adjutant- General, Richmond, Va. : General : Under your order to 
inform myself of the condition of the prison at Andersonville with a view of furnishing 
from the reserve corps the necessary giiard for its protection and safety I made a visit there 
and have just returned, and now submit the result of my examination. There are now in the 
prison about 12,000 prisoners, in an area of less than eighteen acres, with a stockade around it 
about fifteen feet high. I presume the character of the prison is well understood at Richmond 
and therefore give no description of it. 

The danger of the prisoners escaping is not so great as I had supposed ; with a guard 
of 1,200 men, four pieces of artillery, and a cavalry company all apprehension of escape 
would be quieted. I have arranged to send two regiments of infantry there within the next 
week, which with the detached companies of Colonel Persons' regiment will be an ample 
infantry force. Capt. Gamble's batter^' is there, but I would recommend that it be returned 
to Florida and Capt. Tiller's battery sent in its place. My reason mainly for this recom- 
mendation is that Capt. Gamble's battery is well supplied with horses and they are not needed 
at Andersonville, whereas Capt. Tiller's horses have been so reduced that he is unable to 
move his battery in the field. The exchange of these batteries would be of decided advantage 
to the service. I recommend the cavalry company because its presence would have a salutary 
effect in restraining the prisoners from any attempt to escape, knowing the means were at 
hand to pursue them, and in the event of the escape of any considerable number the cavalry 
would be absolutely necessary to their successful pursuit. 

I took the liberty of making several suggestions for rendering the prison more secure, 
and if the tools could be had I would recommend that the entire prison grounds should be 
surrounded with fortifications, which could be put up by the troops, whose health would be 
promoted by the emplo\-ment. The most important change is the one suggested in the accom- 



290 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

panying report of my chief surgeon, Doctor Eldridge; that is, the erection of hospital build- 
ings outside of the prison. Upon that point there can not be two opinions among intelligent 
men. It ought to be done at once, and such is the opinion of every sensible man that has 
examined the prison. The prison is already too much crowded, and no additional prisoners 
should be sent there until it can be enlarged. The effect of increasing the number within the 
present area must be a terrific increase of sickness and death during the summer months. I 
understand that an order has been given for enlarging the prison. If it was possible to 
make another prison it would be much better, for I doubt very much whether the water will 
be sufficient for the accommodation of the increased number of prisoners. The general 
management of the prison under Colonel Persons is good, and he manifests a laudable desire 
to discharge his duties in the most efficient manner. 

The duties of the inside command are admirably performed by Capt. Wirz, whose 
place it would be difficult to fill. 

I still think the rank of the commanding officer of the post should be a brigadier- 
general. In view of the number of troops that will be under his command it seems to me he 
should have that superior rank over those who may be ordered to report to him. 

I take the liberty of inclosing a copy of Doctor Eldridge's report. 

Howell Cobb, Major-General, Commanding, etc. 

(O. R. Ser. 11, Vol. VIL pp. 119-120.) 

REPORT OF SURGEON ELDRIDGE. 

Headquarters Georgia Reserves, Macon, Ga., May 6, 1864. 

Maj. Lamar Cobb, Asst. Adjt. and Insp. Gen., Georgia Reserves, Macon, Ga. : Major: 
In obedience to instructions from Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb, I have the honor to make the 
following report of my visit, in company with the general, to the prison camp at Anderson- 
ville : 

I found the prisoners, in my opinion, too much crowded for the promotion or even 
continuance of their present health, particularly during the approaching summer months. 
The construction of properly arranged barracks would, of course, allow the same number of 
men to occupy the inclosures with material advantage to their comfort and health. At 
present their shelters consist of such as they can make of the boughs of trees, poles, etc., 
covered with dirt. The few tents they have are occupied as hospitals. I found the police of 
the camp throughout very good — as well arranged as their crowded conditions and the 
limited number of shovels would allow. Since necessary tools have been received for ditch- 
ing, etc., which has been very recently, it is proposed to arrange their sinks so that the fecal 
matter may be at once carried away by the stream running through the enclosure, which will 
at once materially improve the condition of the camp. I found the condition of a large 
number of the Belle Isle prisoners on their arrival to be such as to require more attention to 
their diet and cleanliness than to the actual administration of medicines, very many of them 
suffering from chronic diarrhoea, combined with the scorbutic disposition, with extreme 
emaciation as the consequence. The hospital being within the inclosure, it has been found 
impracticable to administer such diet and give them such attention as they require, as unless 
constantly watched such diet as is prepared for them is stolen and eaten by the other prison- 
ers. There is a fine stream within a few hundred yards of the present inclosure, across 
which, in my opinion, there should be made another inclosure, with sufficient hospital build- 
ings, two stories high, to accommodate from 800 to 1,000 patients. Such an inclosure as I 
should suggest — a plank fence ten feet high — would require but very few additional guards, 
which guard appears to be the objection urged at Richmond to separate inclosure. 

The patients upon their admission into the hospital should be well washed, and a pool 
arranged on the side of the stream, and furnished only with a clean shirt, with which 
dress they would hardly attempt to escape. The nurses could be detailed with such dis- 
cretion that but few would attempt to escape, and with frequent roll-calls they would be 
absent but a few hours before detected, and would be readily caught by the dogs, always at 
hand for that purpose. I consider (he establishment of a hospital outside of the present 
inclosure as essential to the proper treatment of the sick, and most urgently recommend its 
immediate construction. I would also recommend the construction of as many bathing 
pools within the prison as the stream would warrant, feeling assured, from the appearance 
of the prisoners, that their use would contribute materially to the health of the bathers. 
Other improvements would be suggested but for the difficulty of obtaining labor, tools, and 
materials, but with those above mentioned the urgent necessities of the prison would be 
supplied. The bakery just being completed will be the means of furnishing better prepared 
food, particularly bread, the half-cooked condition of which has doubtless contributed to the 
continuance of the bowel affections. I will add that as far as I have been able to judge 
from my short visit, the management of the medical department of the prison, under the 
direction of Chief Surg. I. H. White, reflects credit upon that officer, who seems well 
qualified for the position he occupies. 
(0. R. Ser. II. Vol. VII, 120-121.) E. J. Eldricge, Chief Surgeon, Georgia Reserves. 



ANDERSON VILLE. 291 

REPORT OF CAPT. WALTER BOWIE. 

Americus, Ga., May 10, 1864. 

Brig.-Gen. R. H. Chilton, Inspector-General, Richmond, Va. : General : I have the 
honor to report that in obedience to Special Orders, No. 100, Adjutant and Inspector-Gen- 
eral's Office, Richmond, Va., dated 29th of April, I proceeded to Americus, Ga., where I 
arrived on Saturday, the 7th of May. On Monday, the 9th, I visited Andersonville, ten miles 
from Americus, inspected the Federal prisoners at that place, and respectfully submit the 
f ollownig : 

Prisoners. — The whole number of prisoners received at this prison since it was first 
established on 23d of February, 1864, is 13,218; the number of deaths since that time to this 
date is 1.026; escaped from prison and not recaptured, 5; sent to other posts, 7; total now in 
prison, 12,180. 

The prison is composed of an area of ground sixteen and one-half acres in extent, 
situated on two opposing banks or sides of a stream of water, which furnishes an ample 
supply of good water for drinking and bathing purposes. This area is enclosed by a stockade 
made of heavy pine posts placed vertically in the ground to the depth of five feet and rising 
seventeen feet above it. This inclosure is entered by two strong gates. The space inclosed is 
in the form of a parallelogram approaching very nearly a square. On each side of the 
inclosure upon the top of the stockade, so as to overlook the interior, are arranged eight 
sentry boxes or platforms which are about forty yards distant from each other. The loca- 
tion of the prison ground is elevated and dry except that portion bordering immediately on 
the stream of water and comprising about one-fourth of the whole space inclosed by the 
stockade, which is wet and marshy and in its present condition is altogether unfit for encamp- 
ment ; so that the prisoners really occupy only about twelve acres. The space therefore 
allotted to each man is seven b}' six feet. 

Capt. H. Wirz, the commander of the prison, is now endeavoring to reclaim this piece 
of wet land by draining and expects to have it completed in a few days so as to make it a 
fit location for tents or barracks. Capt. Wirz informs me that this work would have been 
done sooner, but that he was unable to obtain the necessary implements to do it with. He 
also informs me that just as soon as the drainage is completed he designs constructing at 
the upper end of the stream, inside of the stockade, two dams of different altitudes, the 
upper to collect water for drinking and the lower for bathing purposes. Over the remainder 
of the stream it is designed to construct the sinks. The stream is of sufficient volume and 
velocity to carry off all the deposits. The prisoners are not supplied with barracks or tents 
and have no shelter except such as they have made with their blankets and pine boughs. 
This, I would respectfully suggest, will in my opinion be insufficient during the hot weather 
of the summer months. There being no trees or other protection from the rays of the sun 
and crowded together as they are, it will be necessary to furnish them with tents or other 
more capacious quarters than those now occupied in order that they may be divided off into 
proper streets, admitting a free circulation of air and affording better facilities for the 
enforcing of the necessary police regulations. Col. A. W. Persons, the commandant of the 
post, has engaged 1,000,000 feet of lumber to be sawed near Macon, a portion of which is 
already sawed, and he has collected a considerable quantin- of it at the prison for the pur- 
pose of building barracks. He informs me that this would have been done sooner but for 
the want of transportation for the lumber on the railroad and for the lack of proper car- 
penter's tools necessary for building purposes. There are a number of carpenters among the 
prisoners who are perfectly willing to do work which will promote their own comfort. 

Discipline. — Capt. Wirz, the commander of the prison, is very firm and rigid in the 
discipline of the prisoners, and at the same time exercises towards them all proper acts of 
kindness. The whole number of prisoners is divided into detachments of 270 men each. A 
sergeant is appointed for each detachment, whose duty it is to cause the men to fall promptly 
in ranks and to call the roll at 7 a. m. daily. If any one is absent, the sergeant is required to 
report the fact and the cause of his absence immediately to the commander of the prison, a 
failure to do which is severely punished. For facilitating the distribution of rations these 
detachments of 270 are subdivided into messes of 90 each. Those detailed for work outside 
of the stockade or sick in the hospital are marked on the roll books, and as soon as their 
work is completed or they are discharged from the hospital they are returned to the squad to 
which they belong. Absentees "from roll call are punished by withholding their day's rations. 
Minor offenses by work, not to exceed two hours. The sergeants are required after roll call 
to carry the sick to the hospital and to return to their quarters those who are not received. 
The prisoners are not allowed to trade with any one except the sutler appointed by the 
commandant of the post. On the inside of the stockade and twenty feet from it there is a 
dead-line established, over which the prisoner is not allowed to go, day or night, under 
penalty of being shot. 

The officer of the day alone is allowed to pass any one inside the stockade, after 
having first ascertained if the person wishing to enter is entitled to do so, or has a pass 



292 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

from the commandant of the post. Visitors having permission to enter are allowed to 
converse with the prisoners only in the presence of the officer of the day. The officer of 
the day is required to examine every wagon that enters the stockade for the purpose of 
carrying commissary, hospital, or sutler's stores, to ascertain whether they contain any con- 
traband articles. If any prisoner makes his escape and is recaptured he is punished by hav- 
ing attached to him a ball and chain, which is to remain on him until he is exchanged or 
released from prison. All the labor about the prison, including that of clerks, is done by 
prisoners, who are under parole not to attempt to escape while on the outside of the 
stockade. 

Privileges. — The prisoners were, until a few days past, allowed occasionally to go 
outside of the stockade to collect boughs and other articles to build huts, etc., but owing to 
too great an intimacy which sprung up between the prisoners and their guard, the exchanging of 
clothing, etc., the commander found it necessary to withhold this privilege. The prisoners 
are allowed to send and receive letters, subject to the inspection of the prison commander. A 
letter box is placed inside the stockade for the reception of all communications from the 
prisoners. They are also allowed to receive boxes sent them by friends, after their contents 
are carefully examined. Those boxes received for prisoners who have died before their 
arrival are turned over to the surgeon in charge for the use of the hospital. All money that 
a prisoner may have is taken from him and placed in the hands of the quartermaster, and 
with it the prisoner is allowed to buy anything that the sutler is licensed to sell. 

Police Regulations. — Two squads of prisoners of twenty-five men each are detailed 
every day, supplied with shovels, and charged with the duty of removing from the encamp- 
ment all offal, the combustible portion of which is burned and the remainder thrown into the 
ditch through which the stream of water flows. Over each squad one of the number is 
appointed as superintendent, who is required to report daily to the commander of the prison 
any failure of the squad to do their duty, or any violation of police rules. 

Prison Guards. — The strength of the whole guard is : 

57th Regiment Georgia Volunteers, rank and file 625 

A detachment of 5oth Regiment Georgia Volunteers, rank and file 153 

A detachment of 26th Regiment Alabama Volunteers, rank and file 288 

Florida battery 127 

Total • 1,193 

The battery consists of four guns, two 10-pounders, rifled, and two Napoleon guns. 
The numbers of men detailed for guard duty each day is : Commissioned officers, 7 ; non-com- 
missioned officers, 16; privates, 280; total, 303; exclusive of artillery. The guard is posted 
as follows : One man in each sentry box on the top of the stockade, forty men at each gate 
in the day and eighty at night. The remainder are posted in a line around and fifty yards 
distant from the stockade. The reliefs not on duty are required to remain at or very near 
their posts. The artillery is posted, a section of two guns on the summit of a hill within 
close range and commanding rhe gates and one slope of the interior of the inclosure; the 
other section of two guns is planted in a like manner on another hill commanding the gates 
and the other slope of the prison inclosure — the two sections thus supporting each other and 
commanding perfectly the gates and the whole interior of the prison. All the officers in 
command are of the opinion that the prison is secure as at present guarded, but all ask that 
I will suggest to the department that they believe it would be hazardous to the safety of the 
prisoners to make the contemplated change in the guard by substituting for one of the regi- 
ments now present a regiment of the reserve forces of the State, who are entirely unaccus- 
tomed to guard duty and liable to the numerous diseases that are incident to the commence- 
ment of camp life. 

Commissary department. — This department is amply supplied with all the stores neces- 
sary for the subsistence of the prisoners. A large bakery and other culinary arrangements 
have just been completed of sufficient capacity to cook for the whole number of prisoners 
present. The rations issued to the prisoners arc the same as those issued to Confederate 
soldiers in the field, viz: one pound of beef, or in lieu thereof one-third pound bacon and. 
one-quarter pound meal, with an occasional issue of beans or peas, rice, molasses, and vine- 
gar. The rations are now issued, cooked, in bulk to squads of 270 men, who divide them 
among themselves. A small supply of wood is also furnished them in the inclosure to cook 
anything that they may have of their own. Before the completion of the bakery the great 
scarcity of cooking utensils prevented a proper preparation of the food and thus materially 
increased the number of cases in the hospital. The commander of the prison informs me 
that with the addition of two or three more boilers to the present arrangement he can pre- 
pare food for 20,000 men. 

Hospital Department. — The hospital accommodations are extremely indifferent. The 
sick have no buildings or tents — nothing but thirty-five tent flies, and they nearly worn out. 



ANDERSONVILLE. 293 

A portion of the ground inside the stockade is occupied as the hospital, a space entirely 
inadequate to the accommodation of the number of sick, who are crowded in almost as thick 
as they can be placed. The whole number of cases that have been treated since the estab- 
lishment of the prison to the present date is 4,588; whole number of deaths, 1,036; number 
now in hospital, 582. Beside the number now in hospital the surgeon in charge, Dr. White, 
informs me that there are nearly 500 others under treatment who are not in hospital because 
there are no accommodations for them. The report of the sick and wounded for the month 
of April exhibits a ratio of 316.1 cases and 57.6 deaths per 1,000 of mean strength. The 
average number of deaths per day from the establishment of the prison to the present time is 
13 2-3. 

The number of deaths during the week ending May 8 was 131, making an average of 
185-7 per day, thus showing a considerable increase in the mortality during the past week, 
and I am of the opinion that this increase will continue unless a decided improvement is 
made in the hospital accommodations and the comfort of the prisoners. At the earnest 
request of the officers commanding the prison and the surgeon in chief (if I may be allowed 
to do so) I would respectfully suggest that permission be granted the surgeon in charge to 
move the hospital to l5ie outside of the stockade, and that a sufficient number of tents be 
furnished him for the accommodation of 1,000 sick. There is a shady grove within 100 yards 
of the prison which would be an excellent location for a hospital. The reasons urged for 
this change are that the hospital patients are much crowded in their present position ; the 
prisoners with their camp-fires are densely crowded_ around the hospital, preventing a free 
circulation of air, so necessar>' to the treatment of diseases, and the frequent forages of the 
well prisoners upon the hospital, rendering it impossible to keep the patients supplied with 
proper comforts. The hospital is divided into two divisions, with a full surgeon in charge of 
each. One of these divisions is subdivided into three and the other into two wards, each 
ward under the care of an assistant surgeon. A sufficient number of nurses and hospital 
stewards for all purposes are detailed from the number of prisoners. There is a surgeon 
appointed each day as professional officer of the day, whose duty it is to see that the hospi- 
tal is well policed, and that the nurses and stewards discharge their duties promptly and 
efficiently, and this officer is required to make a daily morning report. 

In justice to Dr. White, the surgeon in charge, permit me to say that he seems to at- 
tend faithfully to his duties, and regrets exceedingly that he has been furnished with no 
better hospital accommodations. He attributed the large ratio of death to the lack of vi- 
tality in the subjects, produced by long confinement in prison with its depressing influences 
on the mind. The diseases most prevalent among the prisoners are diarrhea and dysentery. 
There is, about one mile from the prison, a smallpox hospital under the care of one sur- 
geon and one assistant surgeon, and containing only a few cases of smallpox. 

Condition of the Prisoners.— A large majority of the prisoners in their clothing and 
person are extremely dirty, and assign as the reason that they are furnished with a very 
small supply of soap. To the truth of this the commander of the prison testifies, and says 
the commissary has been unable to obtain a sufficient supply. 

General Remarks. — I have been requested by the colonel commanding the post to 
bring to the notice of the Department in Richmond the importance of having a cavalry 
company stationed at the prison, in addition to the present guard, to act as an outpost 
guard, and to pursue and recapture those who may chance to make their escape. He sug- 
gested that this company be organized out of the reserve force of the State. I take pleasure 
in this report in testifying to the ability and efficiency of Capt. Wirz, the commander of 
the prison. His activity and zeal in the discharge of his arduous duties are highly com- 
mendable. In accordance with your request, I shall await further orders at this place. 
Hoping that this report may furnish such information as you may desire. 

Walter Bowie, 

Capt. and Insp. in Adjt. and Insp. General's Dept., Richmond, Va. (O. R. Ser. 
II, Vol. VII, pp. 135-136-137-138-139.) 

Indorsement 
File. Facts called to Gen. Winder's attention. Hospital removed and other arrange- 
ments ordered. 

REPORT OF CHIEF SURGEON ISAIAH WHITE. 
. ^ May — 1864. 

Capt Bowie : I have the honor to submit the following report of the sanitary con- 
dition of the C. S. military prison at Andersonville, Ga. : 

The prison is situated on two opposing banks of a stream, which furnishes an ample 
supply of good water for drinking and bathing purposes. The location is elevated and well 
drained. The soil is sandy, without vegetable mold or other cryptogamous growth likely to 
engender malaria. The prisoners are not supplied with barracks or tents, but most of them 
have pro-vided themselves with little huts made of boughs, making themselves comparatively 
comfortable. This, however, will be insufficient during the extremely hot weather of the 
summer months. There being no trees or other protection from the rays of the sun, and 



294 COXFEEi'ERATE PRISON LIFE 

crowded together as they are, it will be necessary to furnish them with tents, or other more 
capacious quarters than those now occupied, in order that they may be divided off into 
proper streets, admitting free circulation of air, and enforcing the necessary police regu- 
lations. 

At the upper end of the stream it is designed to construct two dams of different alti- 
tudes, the upper for drinking and the lower for bathing purposes. Over the remainder of 
the stream it is designed to construct the sinks. The stream is of sufficient volume and 
velocity to carry off all ordure. The number of cases treated from the foundation of the 
prison up to date has been 4,588 with 1,026 deaths. The report of sick and wounded for 
the month of April exhibits a ratio of 316.1 cases and 57.6 deaths per 1,000 of mean strength. 
Among the first prisoners admitted there was a large ratio of diseases of the respiratory 
system contracted in transit from Richmond during very cold weather, and the majority 
of which resulted fatally, in consequence of the absence of barracks and hospital accommo- 
dations and the emaciated condition of the subjects due to long confinement in prison. The 
diseases now prevailing are simply those of the digestive system, diarrhea and dysentery, 
which have in most instances a scorbutic connection. The rations of the prisoners is the 
same as that issued to Confederate soldiers in the field, viz., one pound of beef, or in lieu 
one-third pound of bacon ; one and one-fourth pounds of meal, with an occasional issue of 
beans, rice, molasses and vinegar. 

The bakery and other culinary arrangements have just been completed, and rations 
are now issued cooked, up to which time there had been an inadequate supply of cooking 
utensils, in consequence of which the food was improperly prepared, and increasing the 
number of cases of diarrhea and dysentery. The ratio of mortality is due to the lack of 
vitality in the subjects, produced by long confinement in prison, with its depressing influ- 
ences on the mind. The remedies employed are unassisted by the vis medicatrix naturae, 
without which remedial agencies are powerless. It is also impossible to treat diseases with 
success with the present hospital accommodations. The patients are now treated in tent 
flies, of which there is an inadequate supply. The location of the hospital is also objection- 
able. The prisoners with their camp-fires are densely crowded around the hospital, pro- 
ducing contaminating effluvia and preventing the free circulation of air, so necessary for 
the treatment of disease. In consequence of the forays upon the hospital by the prisoners, 
it is impossible to supply the sick with proper comforts. The drainage from the sinks of 
the prison passing through the hospital grounds is another objection to its location. I 
therefore most respectfully suggest that authority be granted to place the hospital outside of 
the stockade, and that an adequate supply of tents to accommodate 1,000 sick be immediately 
furnished. __..,.. ^t. __ ,^, .,._,.__ _, . , _ 

(O. R. Series II, Vol. VII, pp. 124-125.) ISAIAH H. WHITE, Chief Surgeon. 

REPORT OE CAPT. WIRZ. 

He.\dquarters Commandant of Prison, 
C.^-MP SuMTES, Andersonville, Ga., June 6, 1864. 
Capt. H. D. Chapman, Acting Adjutant of Post: Captain: I most respectfully call 
the attention of the colonel commanding post through you to the following facts: The 
bread which is issued to prisoners is of such an inferior quality, consisting fully of one- 
sixth of husk, that it is almost unfit for use and increasing dysentery and other bowel com- 
plaints. I would wish the commissary of the post be notified to have the meal bolted or 
some other contrivance arranged to sift the meal before issuing. If the meal, such as is 
now, was sifted the bread rations would fall short fully one-quarter of a pound. There is 
a great deficiency of buckets. Rations of rice, beans, vinegar, and molasses cannot be is- 
sued to prisoners for want of buckets, at least 8,000 men in the stockade being without any- 
thing of the sort. If my information is correct, any number of buckets can be got from 
Columbus, Ga., if the quartermaster of the post would make the requisition for the same. 
Hoping that you will give this your attention as soon as possible, I remain, 

H. WIRZ, Captain, Commanding Prison. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, Page 207.) 

REPORT OF CAPT. R. B. WINDER. 

Andersonville, Ga., June 10, 1864. 
Gen. A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster-General, Richmond, Va. : Sir : I would respect- 
fully state that I am in great need of some sheet iron to make some baking-pans to cook 
bread for prisoners of war and cannot get along at all without it. * * * I have tried 
everywhere in Georgia to get this iron but cannot succeed in finding any. Please give this 
matter your immediate attention, as the prisoners are really suffering for the want of these 
pans. I have built two large bakeries and am now constructing a third. We have 22,000 
prisoners here and are now extending the stockade, inclosing two more acres of ground. 
* * * Please answer me by telegraph in regard to this matter, and should you order these 
things shipped from Richmond please have them sent through by express. * * * 

R. B. Winder, Capt. and Assistant Quartermaster. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII. p. 222.) 



ANDERSONVILLE. 295 

WEEKLY RETURN OF ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 

June 19, Captain H. Wirz, commanding Andersonville prison, issued a return for the 
week, June 13 to 19 inclusive, showing the following: 

"Number prisoners received during the week, 3,595 ; recaptured, 17 ; escaped, 27 ; died, 
324; in hospital, 1,222; total on hand, 23,942. (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, page 381.) 

EXTRACT FROM CAPT. W. H. HAMMOND'S REPORT. 

June 21, Captain W. H. Hammond, Assistant Adjutant General, made the following 
report to Gen. Bragg: 

"Number of prisoners on 20th instant was 23,951. * * * The prison camp is sur- 
rounded by a stockade seventeen feet high, and covers an area of sixteen acres and a half, 
only twelve acres of which can be occupied. It is crowded, filthy and insecure. Average 
rate of mortality during present month has been thirty-six per diem. Additional surgeons 
and 150 hospital tents are immediately needed." (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pages 392-393. 

EXTRACT FROM CHIEF SURGEON \\^ITE'S REPORT. 

Accompanying the above report of Capt. Hammond was the report of the chief sur- 
geon of the prison from which the following extract is taken : 

"Your inspection of the prison has no doubt convinced you of the too crowded con- 
dition of the prisoners within the stockade, which, combined with the absence of barrack 
accommodation, is a prolific source of disease. * * * The supply of tents has never 
been adequate to accommodate the number of sick. * * * There are 200 tents of all 
kinds, the majority of which are small picket tents and tent flies, illy adapted to hospital 
purposes. The capacity consistent with comfort does not exceed 800 men, but in conse- 
quence of an inadequate supply, they have been compelled to accommodate 1,020 of the 
worst cases. They are so crowded as to render it necessary to refuse admission to many 
cases who cannot be treated with success in the kind of quarters occupied by inmates of the 
prison." (0. R. Ser. 11, Vol. VII, page 386.) 

EXTRACT FROM GEN. WINDER'S REPORT. 

June 22, Gen. Winder in a communication to Gen. Cooper, adjutant and inspector 
general, said : 

"We have this morning 24,193 prisoners of war and increasing almost daily, larger 
than an army corps. * * * We have this morning discovered a tunnel under the pickets 
14 feet deep and from 90 to 100 feet long. This work will show the desperation of the 
prisoners, and the breaking out of these prisoners would be more disastrous than a defeat 
of the army." (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 396.) 

PRIVATE ANDERSON TO PRESIDENT DAVIS. 

First Regiment Georgia Reserves, Camp Sumter, June 23. 1864. 
President Jefferson Davis : 

Respected Sir:— Being but a private in the ranks at this place, consequently if I see 
anything to condemn (as I do) I have no power to correct it. Yet as a humane being and 
one who believes that we should "do as we would be done by," I proceed to inform you 
of some things that I know you are ignorant of, and in the first place I will say that I have 
no cause to love the Yankees' (they having driven myself and family from our home in New 
Orleans to seek our living amongst strangers), yet I think that prisoners should have some 
showing. Inside our prison walls all around there is a space of about twelve feet wide, 
called the dead line. If a prisoner crosses that line the sentinels are ordered to shoot him. 
Now, we have many thoughtless boys here who think the killing of a Yankee will make 
them' great men. As a consequence, every day or two there are prisoners shot. Wlien the 
officer of the guard goes to the sentry stand, there is a dead or badly wounded man in- 
variably within our own lines. The sentrv, of course, says he was across the deadline when 
he shot him. He is told he did exactly right and is a good sentry. Last Sabbath there were 
two shot in their tents at one shot. The boy said that he shot at one across the dead line. 
Night before last there was one shot near me (I being on guard). The sentry said that 
the yankee made one step across the line to avoid a mudhole. He shot him through the 
bowels, and when the officer of the guard got there he was lying inside their own lines. He 
(the sentr>-) as usual told him that he stepped across, but fell back inside. The officer told 
him it was exactly right. Now, my dear sir, I know you are opposed to such measures, 
and I make this statement to you knowing you to be a soldier, statesman, and Christian, 
that if possible you may correct such things, together with many others that exist here. 
And yet if you send an agent here he will of course go amongst the officers, tell his busi- 
ness, and be told that all is well, but let a good man come here as a private citizen and mix 
with' the privates and stav one week, and if he don't find out things revolting to humanity 
then I am deceived. I shall put my name to this, believing that you will not let the officers 
over me see it, otherwise I would suffer, most probably. 

Yours most respectfully, 

P. S.— Excuse pencil. J^mes E. Anderson. 



296 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

(First Indorsement.) 

July 23, 1864. 
Respectfully referred, by direction of the President, to the Honorable Secretary of 
War. J. C. Ives, 

Colonel and Aid-de-Camp. 
(Second Indorsement.) 

July 23, 1864. 
Adjutant-General : 

Refer to Brigadier-General Winder. 

J. A. Campbell, 
Assistant Secretary of War. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pages 403-404.) 

EXTRACTS FROM CHIEF SURGEON WHITE'S REPORTS. 

June 26, Chief Surgeon White in a report to a superior officer made the following 
statement : 

"The strength of the command having increased to 25,000 men, more than double 
that for which hospital accommodations were prepared, the hospital is filled far beyond its 
healthy capacity. I have tents of all kinds to accommodate 800 men, in which I have been 
compelled to crowd over 1,200, * * * For humanity's sake please assist me in obtaining 
200 tents at once. There are nearly 3,000 sick in the prison, many of whom require hospi- 
tal treatment which cannot be furnished because of the already crowded condition of the 
hospital." (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pages 417-418.) 

June 30. The following extracts are taken from the report of Chief Surgeon White : 
"In the immediate camp passes a stream of water, the margins of which are low and 
awampy and have recently been drained * * * the result of which has been to expose 
to the rays of the summer sun a large surface covered with decomposing vegetable mat- 
ter. * * * The prison was built to accommodate 10,000 prisoners, in which have un- 
a.voidabIy been placed 26,000, causing them to become so crowded as to prevent a proper 
circulation of atmospheric air. With this crowded condition there is an absence of bar- 
racks or tents, the only protection from the weather being little huts made of boughs, 
blankets and small picket tents. (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pages 426-427.) 

GEN. WINDER REPORTS NEED OF NEW. PRISON. 

July 30, Gen. Winder in notifying the war department of his action towards selecting 
a site for a new prison said : 

"It is verv important to build as soon as possible. We have now 32,235 prisoners of 
war." (0. R. S'er. II, Vol. VII, page 514.) 

RETURN FOR MONTH OF JULY. 

July 31, prison return signed by Capt. Wirz shows : 
"Total number of prisoners on hand July 31, 31,678 with a daily average for the 
month of 29,030; died during the month, 1,742, an average of 56 1-5 each day; in hospital, 
1,680; escaped during the month, 20; recaptured, 12; received during the month, 7,064. 
The number escaped from stockade and not recaptured from the first of April to July 31, 
27. The last 7 days of the month average daily death, 75 4-7." (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, 
page 517.) 

REPORT OF COL. D. T. CHANDLER. 

Anderson, July (August) 5, 1864. 
Col. R. H. Chilton, 

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond: 

Colonel : Having, in obedience to instructions of the 25th of July, ultimo, carefully 
inspected the prison for Federal prisoners of war and post at this place, I respectfully sub- 
mit the following report : 

The Federal prisoners of war are confined within a stockade 15 feet high, of roughly 
hewn pine logs, about 8 inches in diameter, inserted 5 feet in the ground, inclosing, includ- 
ing the recent extension, an area of 540 by 260 yards. A railing around the inside of the 
stockade and about 20 feat from it constitutes the "dead-line," beyond which the prisoners 
are not allowed to pass, and about 3% acres near the center of the inclosure are so marshy 
as to be at present unfit for occupation, reducing the available present area to about 23^ 
acres, which gives somewhat less than 6 square feet to each prisoner. Even this is being 
constantly reduced by the additions to their number. A small stream passes from west 
to east through the inclosure at about 150 yards from its southern limit and furnishes the 
only water for washing accessible to the prisoners. Some regiments of the guard, the 
bakery, and cook house, being placed on the rising ground bordering the stream before it 
enters the prison, render the water nearly unfit for use before it reaches the prisoners. 
This is now being remedied in part by the removal of the cook-house. Under the pressure 



ANDERSONVILLE. 297 

of their necessities the prisoners have dug numerous wells within the inclosure, from 
which they obtain an ample supply of water to drink of good quality. Excepting the edges 
of this stream, the soil is sandy and easily drained, but from 30 to 50 yards on each side 
of it the ground is a muddy marsh, totally unfit for occupation, and having been constantly 
used as a sink since the prison was first established, it is now in a shocking condition and 
cannot fail to breed pestilence. An effort is being made by Captain Wirz, commanding the 
prison, to fill up the marsh and construct a sluice— the upper end to be used for bathing, 
&c., the lower as a sink — but the difficulty of procuring lumber and tools very much retards 
the work and threatens soon to stop it. No shelter whatever, nor materials for construct- 
ing any, has been provided by the prison authorities, and the ground being entirely bare of 
trees, none is within reach of the prisoners, nor has it been possible, from the overcrowded 
state of the inclosure, to arrange the camp within any system. Each man has been per- 
mitted to protect himself as best he can, stretching his blanket, or whatever he may have, 
above him on such sticks as he can procure, thatches of pine or whatever his ingenuity 
may suggest and his cleverness supply. Of other shelter there is and has been none. The 
whole number of prisoners is divided into messes of 270 and subdivisions of 90 men, each 
under a sergeant of their own number and selection, and but one C. S. officer, Capt. Wirz, 
is assigned to the supervision and control of the whole. In consequence of this fact and 
the absence of all regularity in the prison grounds, and there being no barracks or tents, 
there are and can be no regulations established for the police consideration for the health, 
comfort and sanitary condition of those within the inclosure, and none are practicable 
under existing circumstances. In evidence of their condition I would cite the facts that 
numbers have been found murdered by their comrades, and that recently, in their desperate 
efforts to provide for their own safetj', a court organized among themselves, by authority 
of Gen. Winder, commanding the post, granted on their own application, has tried a large 
number of their fellow prisoners and sentenced six to be hung, which sentence was duly 
executed by themselves within the stockade, with the sanction of the post commander. 
His order in the case has been forwarded by him to the War Department. Thrre is no 
medical attendance furnished withiti the stockade. Small quantities of_ medicines are placed 
in the hands of certain prisoners of each squad or division, and the sick are directed to be 
brought out by the sergeants of squads daily at sick call to the medical officers who attend 
at the gate. The crowd at these times is so great that only the strongest can get access to 
the doctors, the weaker ones being unable to force their way through the press; and the 
hospital accom^nodations are so limited that, though the beds (so-called) have all or nearly 
all two occupants each^ large numbers who would other-.vise be received are necessarily 
sent back to the stockade. Many — twenty yesterday — are carted out daily, who have died 
from unknown causes and whom the medical officers have never seen. The dead are hauled 
out daily by the wagonload and buried zvithout coffins, their hands in many instances being 
fir.'it mutilated with an ax in the removal of any finger rings they may have. The sanitary 
condition of the prisoners is as wretched as can be, the principal causes of mortality being 
scurvy and chronic diarrhea, the percentage of the former being disproportionately large 
among those brought from Belle Isle. Nothing seems to have been done, and but little, if 
any effort, made to arrest it by procuring proper food. The ration is one-third pound of 
bacon and' one pound and a quarter unbolted corn-meal, with fresh beef at rare intervals, 
and occasionally rice. When to be obtained,— very seldom— a small quantity of molasses is 
substituted for the meat ration. A little weak vinegar, unfit for use, has sometimes been 
issued. The arrangements for cooking and baking have been wholly inadequate, and though 
additions are now being completed, it will still be impossible to cook for the whole number 
of prisoners. Raw rations have to be issued to a very large proportion who are entirely 
unprovided with proper utensils and furnished so limited a supply of fuel they are com- 
pelled to dig with their hands in the filthy marsh before mentioned for roots, &c. No soap 
or clothing has ever been issued. After inquiry I am confident that by slight exertions 
green com and other antiscorbutics could readily be obtained. Herewith I hand two reports 
of Chief Surg. White, to which I would respectfully call your attention. The present hos- 
pital arrangements were only intended for the accommodation of the sick of 10,000 men, 
and are totally insufficient, both in character and extent, for the present needs ; the number 
of prisoners being now more than three times as great, the number of cases requiring med- 
ical treatment is in an increased ratio. It is impossible to state the number of sick, majiy 
dying within the stockade whom the medical officers never see or hear of 'till their remains 
are brought out for interment. The rate of deaths )ias steadily increased from 37.4 per 
■ I 000 during the month of March last to 62.7 per 1,000 in July. Of the medical officers but 
eleven hold commissions; nearly all of the others are detailed from the militia. and have 
accepted the position to avoid serving in the ranks, and will relinquish their contracts as 
soon as the present emergency has passed and the militia is disbanded. But little injury 
would result from this, however, as they are generally very inefficient ; and not residing at 
the post onlv visiting it once a day at "sick-call," they bestow but little attention to those 
under their care. The smallpox hospital is under the charge of Dr E. Sheppard, Provi- 
sional Armv C S More than half the cases in it have terminated fatally. The manage- 



298 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

ment and police of the pfeneral hospital grounds seem to be as good as the limited means 
will allow, but there is pressing necessity for at least three times the number of tents and 
amount of bedding now on hand. The supply of medicines is wholly inadequate, and fre- 
quently there is none, owing to the great delays experienced in filling the requisitions. 

The guard forces, under the immediate command of Col. Henry Forno, ProvisionaF 
Army, C S., are composed of Capt. Dyke's company, Florida light artillery, ooth Regiment 
Georgia Infantry, 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Regiments Georgia Reserves, and Lieut.-Col. Furlow's 
battalion Georgia militia, an aggregate of 3,600 men, of whom 647 are now on the sick 
report. Capt. Dyke's company of artillery is an efficient body of men, well drilled, disci- 
plined and officered. The 55th Georgia is composed of men who were absent from their 
command at the time their regiment proper was captured at Cumberland Gap. They are 
thoroughly demoralized, mutinous, and entirely without discipline, and should be at once 
removed from this point and their places supplied with better troops. The colonel of this 
regiment, C. B. Harkie, though armed at the time, permitted his men to drag him from 
a railroad car and march him up and down the platform of the depot, and to take him 
from his tent, place him on a stump, and compel him to go through the manual of arms 
with a tent pole, and to sign and forward his resignation to the War Department. This last 
he recalled by a telegram from Fort Valley. He has recently rejoined the command, but 
dares not assume command of the regiment. 

The four regiments Georgia reserves have been newly organized, and without any- 
efFort being made to assign the old and young men to separate regiments, as should have 
been done. A large number are evidently within the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and I 
respectfully recommend that a reliable conscript officer be sent among them. These troop? 
are entirely without discipline, and their officers are incapable of instructing them, being 
ignorant of their own duties. I recommend that one competent officer from the Invalid 
Corps be assigned to each regiment as drill officer and instructor. I found their arms in 
serviceable order, but many are lacking bayonets, cartridge boxes and accouterments. Fur- 
low's battalion of Georgia militia, temporarily serving here, is armed with muskets without 
bayonets and accoutrements. Of the whole force there are 452 men entirely without arms. 
As will be seen by the accompanying report of the commandant of the post, there are 
required daily for duty an aggregate of 784 men, and frequent details are required in addi- 
tion. At least 1,000 men more are essentially necessary in order to give the troops their 
proper rest. 

The magazine has not yet been completed and the ammunition is kept partly in the 
commissary store and partly in a tent. I also hand with this a sketch and report of Capt. 
Moreno, of the Engineer Corps, showing the nature of the defenses and the stockades- 
being erected. Sixteen pieces of field artillery are now here, some of which are now in 
position; the others will be placed in position as soon as the necssary works can be com- 
pleted; six pieces more are en route. It is believed no other point in the State offers the 
same advantages of healthy location and facilities for safe-keeping of the prisoners that 
is not more accessible to raids. Nor can I learn that any advantage on the score of cheaper 
subsistence or greater comfort to the prisoners can be gained by removal to any other part 
of this State. I am decidedly of opinion that not over 15,000 prisoners should be kept at 
this point, the running water not being sufficient for more than that number, and because 
it is impossible for one man to exercise a proper supervision over them, and that all over 
that number should be sent elsewhere. At my request a survey of the grounds has been 
made by Col. Harkie, 55th Georgia Regiment, and civil engineer, with a view to drainage. 
His report is herewith submitted, with a recommendation that his plan be carried out by 
the Engineer Department, that being the only one authorized to impress the necessary 
labor. The necessity for it is urgent. I also recommend that a supply of clothing be fur- 
nished for issue to the prisoners and that soap and antiscorbutics be regularly issued ta 
them. Attention is also specially invited to the report of Chief Surgeon White relative to 
the construction of barracks and the supply of additional tents for hospital use, and I 
would respectfully suggest that commissioned officers of the medical staf? be sent to replace 
the contract physicians and doctors detailed from the militia, and that they be required 
to reside at the post. The transportation of the post is entirely insufficient, and authority 
is needed by the quartermaster to impress wagons and teams and saw mills, when not 
employed by the Government or railroads, and kept diligently occupied, and instructions 
given to the quartermaster in charge ol transportation to afford every facility practicable 
for transporting lumber and supplies necessary for prisons. Bake-pans, or sheet-iron for 
making them, should at once be furnished. The telegraph line should be continued from 
Fort Valley to Andersonville, thirty-one miles. Attention is respectfully called to the 
accompanying copy of an order issued by Brig.-Gen. Gardner to convert all moneys belong- 
ing to prisoners in the hands of the quartermaster at Richmond into Confederate currency, 
and at the prices established by Government without consulting the wishes of the prisoners 
on the subject. It will be seen by the account book forwarded with this that some of these 
claim considerable amounts. The injustice of compelling them to receive our currency 
against their consent is apparent. 



ANDERSONVILLE. 29& 

In conclusion, I beg leave to recommend that no more prisoners be sent to this already 
overcrowded prison, and that at the two additional localities selected by Gen. Winder, under 
instructions from Gen. Bragg — the one near Millen, Ga., the other some point in Alabama 
south of Cahaba — arrangements be at once made for the excess over 15.000 at this post^ 
and such others as may be captured. Since my inspection was made over 1,300 prisoners 
have been added to the number specified in the reports herewith. With a view of reliev- 
ing to some extent this point as soon as possible, I respectfully suggest that 2,000 of those 
who most need the change, especially the Belle Isle prisoners, be at once sent to Macon 
to occupy the quarters vacated by the Federal officers, that being the greatest number who- 
can be properly accommodated with shelter at that prison. 

It is absolutely necessary that the regulations for the government of the prisoners 
be legibly painted on boards and exposed in conspicuous places, say by nailing on the sut- 
ler's shop and on the inner face of the stockade at various points. Those established by 
Capt. Wirz, herewith submitted, are approved, with the exception of paragraph 4. which 
it IS recommended shall be stricken out. 

I am, colonel, your obedient servant, 

D. T. CHANDLER, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 546-547-548-549-550.) 

Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. 

The condition of the prison at Andersonville is a reproach to us as a nation. The 
Engineer and Ordnance Departments were applied to for implements, authorized their 
issue, and I so telegraphed Gen. Winder. Col. Chandler's recommendations are concurred in. 

By order of Gen. S. Cooper. 

R. H. CHILTON, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General. 

(O. R. Ser. H, Vol. VII, pp. 546-550.) 

Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, August 18, 1864. 

This report discloses a condition of things imperatively demanding prompt and 
decisive measures of relief. The discomforts and sufferings of the prisoners seem almost 
incredible; and the frightful per centum of mortality, steadily increasing until in the month 
of July it had attained the extent of 62.7 per 1,000 appears to be only necessary conse- 
quence of the criminal indifference of the authorities charged with their care and custody. 
No effectual remedy for all these evils seem available so long as the numbers are in such 
large excess over that for which the prison was designed; but some things can be done 
at once to ameliorate the condition. Colonel Chandler, whose recommendations are approved 
by Colonel Chilton, suggests the relief of General Winder and substitution of some other 
commander. The state of things described in the report cannot 

[Remainder of this indorsement torn from wrapper and lost. From the testimony 
printed in report No. 45, House of Representatives, third session, 40th Congress, p. 133,. 
it appears that it was written by Mr. B. R. Wellford, Jr., of the Confederate War Depart- 
ment.] 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VH, p. 551; foot note.) 

Secretary of War: 

These reports show a condition of things at Andersonville which calls very loudly 
for the interposition of the Department in order that a change may be made. 

J. A. CAMPBELL, Assistant Secretary of War. 

(O. R- Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 550-551.) 

Andersonville, August 5, 1864. 
Col. R. H. Chilton, Asst. Adjt. and Insp. Gen. C. S. Army, Richmond, Va. 

Colonel: The following additional report of my inspection at this point is respect- 
fully submitted : 

Col. Henry Forno, in irrunediate command of the guard forces, deserves special men- 
tion as an active, intelligent, energetic and zealous officer. Capt. Henry Wirz, in immediate 
command of the prison, is entitled to commendation for his untiring energy and devotion 
to the discharge of multifarious duties of his position, for which he is preeminently quali- 
fied. I respectfully concur in the recommendation which has been forwarded by Gen. 
Winder for his promotion, and further recommend that not less than three captains or 
subalterns, especially selected for their fitness for the position, be furnished him as assist- 
ants. Capt. J. W. Armstrong, assistant commissary subsistence, left the post shortly after 
my arrival on sick leave, locking up nearly all his books and papers. I was consequently 
unable to make a satisfactory examination into his affairs. Enough information, however, 
was elicited to show that he is a very inefficient officer and entirely incompetent for the dis- 
charge of the duties of his position, and should at once be removed. Capt. R. B. Winder, 
assistant quartermaster, is an energetic and efficient officer, whose whole time and attention 
are requisite for the duties strictly appertaining to his position. The additional duties 



■300 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

devolved upon him by the instructions from the Quartermaster-General's office, requiring 
him to establish and superintend a large shoe factory, should be imposed on some other 
officer of the department. 

The other stafif officers at this post seem intelligent and efficient in the discharge of 
their duties, with the exception of Capt. Samuel T. Baily, assistant adjutant-general, who 
is mentally and physically incapacitated for their performance, and Surg. E Sheppard and 
Asst. Surgs. R. E. Ale.xander and A. Thomburgh, who are represented by the chief sur- 
geon as being incompetent and inefficient. 

My duty requires me respectfully to recommend a change in the officer in command 
of the post, Brig.-Gen. J. H. Winder, and the substitution in his place of some one who 
unites both energy and good judgment with some feelings of humanity and consideration 
for the welfare and comfort (so far as is consistent with their safe keeping) of the vast 
number of unfortunates placed under his control ; some one who at least will not advocate 
deliberately and in cold blood the propriety of leaving them in their present condition until 
their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to make the present arrangements 
suMce for their accommodation, and who will not consider it a matter of stlf laudation and 
boasting that he has never been inside the stockade, a place the horrors of which it is 
difficult to describe, and which is a disgrace to civilization; the condition of which he might 
by the exercise of a little energy and judgment, even with the limited means at his com- 
mand, have considerably improved. 

In obedience to instructions I shall next proceed to the headquarters of the Army of 
Tennessee and request that any communications for me be forwarded there to the care of 
the chief of staff. 

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D T. CHANDLER, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General. 

(0. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 551-552.) 

REPORT OF MA J. CARVEL HALL. 

Wytheville, Nov. 22, 1864. 
Col. R. H. Chilton, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond: 

Colonel : I am surprised to see that Capt. Wirz, commanding prison at Anderson- 
ville, Ga., in his report of 27th of September, makes me responsible for the following: 
"Maj. Hall remarked that it, the prison at Andersonville, was about on a par with the Fed- 
eral prison at Johnson's Island." I did not express any such opinion, nor did I ever use 
any language, which the utmost ingenuity could pervert into such a misrepresentation of 
my conviction. 

The report of inspection of the post and prison at Andersonville, forwarded by Col. 
Chandler, assistant and inspector general, 5th of August, ultimo, was made from him by 
. notes taken by both of us on the spot. He consulted with me while preparing it, and as 
you will perceive, the fair copy is in my handwriting. I fully concur in it. Col. Chandler's 
communication to you of this date is also entirely in accordance with my observation of 
the facts and the statements in which reference is made to me and with my full knowledge 
and consent. My recollection of Gen. Winder's language, quoted by Col. Chandler and 
Capt. Wirz, relative to the issue of peas, rice, fuel, &c., is clear amd distinct. No vestige 
remained of the 1,000 posts to which Capt Wirz and no allusion to them was made. The 
only hut or other building in the stockade was a small frame house used exclusively as a 
sutler's shop. On each of my visits of inspection to the interior of the stockade I noticed 
a large number of men digging in the marsh for roots and learning their purpose called 
Col. Chandler's attention to the fact. At my request, Capt. Wirz went with me to the 
stockade on one occasion specially to attend "sick-call," as I desired to obtain accurate 
information in regard to the manner of conducting it. 

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. CARVEL HALL, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, p. 1156.) 

EXTR.\CT FROM SURGEON JONES' REPORT. 

Dr. Joseph Jones, a surgeon in the Confederate army and one of the most eminent 
physicians and surgeons of the South, was sent to Andersonville by the Confederate au- 
thorities for pathological investigation. He arrived there in August, 1864, and remained 
several weeks and after careful observation made a voluminous report, which is published 
in full in the Official Records of the War Department, Series II, Volume VI, pages 588- 
632. The following extracts are taken from this report: 

"The waters of the stream issuing from the stockade and hospital are contaminated 
by the excrement filth and ofi'al of the Federal prisoners, and contain not only these mat- 
ters, and various salts resulting from their decomposition, but also numerous maggots, 
animalculae, and crv'ptogamous plants. As these waters loaded with filth and human excre- 
ment flow sluggishly through the swamp below, filled with trees and reeds, coated with a 
filthy deposit, they emit an intolerable and most sickening stench. Standing as I did over 
these waters in the middle of a hot day in September, as they rolled sluggishly forth from 




The above cut is reproduced by courtesy of the State of Connecticut. It appeared in 
the published proceedings of the dedication of the state monument at Andersonville in 
memory of the Connecticut soldiers who died in southern military prisons. The granite build- 
ing siiown here was erected by the Women's Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic 
over the site of a stream of water that was first discovered by the inmates of Andersonville 
Prison immediately after a thunderstorm in August. 1864. Many of the prisoners attributed it 
as a direct gift from Providence, and it soon became known as "Providence Spring." 



ANDERSONVILLE. 301 

the stockade, after having received the filth and excrements of 20,000 nien, the stench was- 
disgusting and overpowering, and it it was surpassed m unpleasantness by anything, it was 
only in the disgusting appearance of the filthy, almost stagriant waters, moving slowly 
between the stumps and roots and trunks of fallen trees and thick branching reeds and 
vines, with innumerable long-tailed large, white maggots, swollen peas and fermenting ex- 
crements and fragments of bread and riieat" * * * In this immediate locality vermm 
and insects of certain species abound to a most unfortunate extent. In this sandy soil fleas 
find a most suitable and healthy habitation and multiply with great rapidity whilst mos- 
quitoes swarm in untold myriads and render life at mgbt all but intolerable by their ever- 
?iti^ buzzing and their troublesome bites. It was almost impossible to^sleep except under 
n^tsDuS? the first night that I slept at this place my face and hands were thoroughly 
peppered S the bites of these insects, and throughout my stay at Andersonyille my face 
app^^red Is if covered with an eruptive disease. I observed that many of the prisoners 
and Confederate soldiers had been similarly treated by the mosqmtoes * * %^^ ^ed- 
??al pHscSers were gathered from all parts of the Confederate States east of the Mis- 
sissipp and crowded into this confined space, until m the month of June the average num- 
ber of square feet of ground to each prisoner was only 32.2 or less than four square 
yards ThSe fiSrefre^present the condition of the stockade m a better light even than 
ft riuy wfs; fS a considerable breadth of land along the stream flowmg from west ta 
east bet^v•een the hills was low and boggy and was covered with the excrements of the 
T^l and tSis rendered wholly uninhabitable, and in fact useless for every purpose except 
t^^^ of defecation * * * From the want of proper police and hygienic regulations 
Lone it is nS wonderful that from February to Sepember 21, 1864, 9,479 deaths (nearly 
one-third the entire number of prisoners) should have been recorded. * * * The low 
grounds bordering the stream were covered with excrements and filth of all kinds, which 
fn many places fppeared to be alive with working maggots. Aji indescribable sickemng 
SenTaro e fr'om^the fermenting morass of human dung and filth. There were nearly 
5 000 seriously ill Federals in the stockade and C. S. military prison hospital and the 
dSs Sceeded 100 per day, and large numbers of the prisoners who were walkmg about, 
aS who id not been entered upon the sick reports, were suffermg from severe and in- 
cSrabTe diarrhea, dysentery and scurvy. The sick were attended entirely by their fellow- 
prisoners appointed as nurses, and as they received but little ^"^"^lon they were corn- 
oelled to exert themselves at all times to attend to the calls of nature, and hence they re- 
Sned theTower of moving about to within a comparatively short period of the close of 
ifr Owinrto the slow progress of the diseases -ost prevalent, diarrhea and chronic dys- 

llTHo-Zt or u^p^n srh%rggtdSk1t;t tS^^o^sLed. withou^as M Kvg 

SS floi^d ^S^ :Sr af^^ne^^-c^iirSf tSS ^J^f ^ 
lie ha^d Sessed countenance of these miserable, complaining, dejected, living skele- 

and filth that they resembled negroes rather than white men. (O. R- Ser. 11, Vol. Vi, pp- 
588-632.) 

EXTRACT FROM SURGEON R. R- STEVENSON'S FIRST REPORT. 

Dr. R R. Stevenson, in his first report to the Surgeon General of the Confederate 
States Army, September 16, 1864, said: 

"The' stockade includes twenty-seven acres of ground. A considerable stream of 
water passes through it, running east and west. In this space of ground from 30,000 ta 
40,000 prisoners have been crowded ; no protection whatever from the burnmg rays of the 
sun, except such as could be made from blankets or dirt hovels. Along the bajiks of the 
stream the ground is quite boggy, and water is continually oozing from the low banks. 
Recently four sheds have been built inside the stockade. These were the beginnmg of a 
series of barracks capable of accommodating 270 men each A temporary structure is 
erected on the banks of the stream and is used as a privy. All the inmates of the prison 
use this humid cesspool of excrementitious matter as a pruT except the sick, and they are 
compelled to dig small holes near their hovels and use them for the deposit of feces. The 
stream that flows through the stockade overflowed its low swampy banks in the early part 
of the season, and the amount of fecal matter deposited a short distance from the outside- 
of the stockade is enormous. At all times of the day and night a most noisome stench 
arises from the decomposing excrementitious matter deposited in the prison and hospital 



302 CONFEDEIL\TE PRISON LIFE 

pounds. From 3,000 to 4,000 sick and wounded men are inside the stockade. The number 
of medical officers is entirely inadequate for the demand of the sick. At present writing 
only four medical officers are on duty, whereas, to take the proper care of the sick and 
■wounded there should be not less than twenty-five efficient medical officers, constantly on 
duty in the stockade, in order to meet the wants of the sick and keep the proper register 
and reports. Under the present regime hundreds die in the stockade and are buried whose 
names and diseases are unknown. This can be remedied by no other means than by a 
sufficient corps of medical officers. All the medical officers who have been on duty here 
axe detailed men from the militia and contract physicians, and as a matter of course are 
very inefficient. 

"The hospital is situated near the southwest corner of the stockade, covering about 
five acres of ground, inclosed by a frail board fence. A sluggish stream of water flows 
through the southern part of this lot. The ground is sloping and facing the southeast. On 
the southwest side of the inclosure is a swamp about 300 yards in width and on the north- 
west side the stream which flows through the stockade, the banks being very low and sub- 
ject to overflow. From these swamps arise putrid exhalations at times almost insupport- 
able. The hospital is but a short distance from the confluence of the branch and the creek, 
and although on rolling table land, it is much lower than the surrounding country and 
very near where the branch disembogues from the stockade, occupying a position that all the 
surrounding depressing agencies would seem to center in the hospital, as well as the stock- 
ade. On examining the roster I find that twenty-four medical officers are charged to the 
hospital, and yet but twelve are on duty. In order to attend to the wants of the sick and 
wounded not less than thirty efficient medical officers should be on duty in the hospital. 
Confusion will necessarily occur without this number. From 1,800 to 2,500 patients are 
crowded into this space. Tents of a very inferior quality are the only means of protection, 
a majority of them being the small A tents. Temporary bunks are erected in most of them 
by driving forks into the ground and placing small poles or boards to lay on. A great 
number of patients are compelled to lie on the ground in consequence of the smallness of 
the tents. The cooking arrangements are very deficient; two large kettles erected on a 
furnace are nearly all the vessels that are used. The bread is baked outside of the hos- 
pital in the stockade enclosure. The bread is of the most unhealthy character, being made 
of coarse, unbolted corn-meal. This of itself, under the most favorable circumstances, 
must prove a source of great irritation to the bowels. Scurvy, gangrene, and bowel aff^ec- 
lions are prevailing at present to an alarming extent. The purveyor's department has been 
able to supply nearly all the necessary medicines. The indigenous remedies are being exten- 
sively used with good effect. The medical officers in charge of the different wards and 
divisions are all diligent and seem willing to discharge their duties, although laboring under 
many and great disadvantages. Great efforts have been made to make the stockade secure 
and prevent the escape of prisoners, and but little attention paid to the hygienic and sanitary 
condition of the sick. Surg. I. H. White, chief surgeon post, informed me that timely 
requisitions have been made on the quartermaster's department for the necessary materials 
to make the sick and wounded comfortable, but thus far he has been unable to procure 
anything. Without an arrangement of this kind I very much fear the hospital department 
in C. S. military prison will continue to be neglected." (O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pages 
830-831-832.) 

OFFICIAL REPORT OF INTERMENTS IN ANDERSONVILLE CEMETERY. 

Washington, D. C, Sept. 20, 1865. 
Brvt. Maj. Gen. M. C. Meigs, Quarter-Master General, U. S. A. : General ; * * * 

On the morning of the 26th of July [1865] the work of identifying the graves, painting 
and lettering the headboards, laying out the walks, and inclosing the cemetery was com- 
menced, and on the evening of August 16 was completed, * * *. The dead were found 
buried in trenches, on a site selected by the rebels, about 300 yards from the stockade. The 
trenches were from two to three feet below the surface, and in several instances, where the 
rains had washed away the earth, but a few inches. Additional earth was, however, thrown 
on the graves, making them of still greater depth. * * * 

U. S. soldiers while prisoners had been detailed to inter their companions, and by a 
simple stake at the head of each grave, which bore a number corresponding with a similar 
numbered name upon the Andersonville hospital record, I was enabled to identify and mark 
with a neat tablet, similar to those in the cemeteries at Washington, the number, name, rank, 
regiment, etc., and date of death, of 12,461 graves, there being but 451 which bore the in- 
scription "Unknown U. S. Soldiers." * * * 

On the morning of the 17th of August, at sunrise, the Stars and Stripes were hoisted 
in the center of the cemetery, when a national salute was fired and several national songs 
were sung by those present. * * * 

JAMES M. MOORE, Captain and Assistant Quarter Master U. S. Army. 

(O. R. Ser. Ill, Vol. V, pp. 319-322.) 



FLORENCE. 303 

FLORENCE PRISON— OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

REPORT OF LIEUT. COL. W. D. PICKETT. 

Florence, S. C. October 12, 1864. 
Lieut. Gen. Hardee, Commanding Department : 

General: I have the honor to make the following report of the conditions of the 
Federal prisoners of war now confined near this post: 

Col. G. P. Harrison is in command of the prisoners as well as the troops on duty 
here guarding them. He has had charge of them only since they were removed to this 
point, about four weeks, and has, I am satisfied, used commendable energy in constructing 
the stockade and in improving the condition of the prisoners. The stockade in which most 
of the prisoners are confined is located about one mile and one-half from this point, in a 
healthy position, and with a bold, running branch of pure water running through its center. 
The area embraced in the stockade is twenty-three and a half acres, of which about six 
acres near the branch is swampy and unsuitable for an encampment. The location on the 
whole is a healthy one. 

The total number of prisoners is 12,362, in which are numbered 860 sick in hospital 
and 20 men out on parole. This number does not include men who have taken the oath 
of allegiance and enlisted in the service of the Confederate States. The stockade with 
j)latform for artillery at each angle will be finished in about one week. With proper vigi- 
lance on the part of sentinels the prison will be secure. 

The condition of these prisoners has not been much misrepresented. The great ma- 
jority of them look emaciated and sickly and are full of vermin, and filthy in the extreme. 
Three-fourths of them arc without blankets and almost without clothing. Few have a 
change of underclothing. As a consequence, there is a great deal of suffering these cool 
nights and much additional sickness must follow. Most of them have erected temporary 
shelters, which will protect them to some extent from rain and dew until better shelters 
■can be constructed. The principal diseases are scurvy and diarrhea, which carry off from 
twenty to fifty per day. The present sick list is 785. The hospitals are made of the boughs 
of trees, are of temporary character, and will afford very little protection from rain. There 
has been very great want of medical attention ; there is only one medical officer assigned 
them, whereas I am told ten are required for that number of men. 

The present ration issued, as fixed by the Commissary-General for all prisoners of 
war. is one and one-fourth pounds of meal, or its equivalent in peas and rice, and three 
gills of molasses. The commissary tells me he has been unable to furnish all the rations 
of molasses. Regulations are in force for the proper distribution of the ration to the men. 
The above shows, in a few words, the general condition of the prisoners. For the im- 
provement of their condition I would make the following suggestions : 

First. The Federal authorities should be informed of the condition of their men in 
regard to clothing and blankets, and they be requested to supply this very urgent demand. 
I understand there are 5,000 suits now in Charleston for them, but none have yet been 
received. They should receive at least one blanket and one suit of clothes for each man. 

Second : The requisite amount of medical officers and medical supplies should be at 
once furnished— say nine additional surgeons with proper supplies of medicine. 

Third : There is an entire want of cooking utensils, which should at once be sup- 
plied. They have not sufficient utensils with which to draw their rations. 

Fourth : Shelters of a permanent character should be at once constructed. Sawed 
lumber, I understand, cannot be had in time. As a substitute, I have directed Col. Harrison 
to construct shelters out of clapboards, and by a plan that will economize room. This work 
can be done in a short space of time and altogether by the prisoners. The only tools re- 
quired will be 200 axes and about 50 froes. Shelters on this plan can be erected before cold 
or inclement weather sets in. The quartermaster's department is very deficient in supplies. 
Eight or ten wagons are urgently required for hauling wood and supplies for the post. 

The garrison of this post consists of five battalions of "reserve troops" (about 1.200 
effective men), the Fifth Georgia Regiment detachment from artillery companies stationed 
around Charleston, and one small company of cavalry; in all, about 1,600 effective men. 
There is also one battery of light artillery. The artillery detachments have been ordered 
hack to their commands. I think the 5th Georgia Regiment should remain a short time 
until the "reserve forces" can be somewhat instructed in guard duty; they are as yet very 
badly instructed. 

I have inspected the recruits to our service from the Yankee prisoners. They are 
mostly foreigners, and are generally good-looking men, and I doubt not will make good 
soldiers. They are woefully destitute in clothing and blankets, and their wants should be 
at once supplied. I recommend that they at once be placed in the field, either as an organi- 
zation or scattered in old commands I understand several hundred more foreigners can 
be enlisted, and if you will take Western men 1,500 or 2,000 more can be enlisted. About 



304 CONFEDER.\TE PRISO'N LIFE 

fifty of those already enlisted are old gunners and seamen, and are anxious to go in the 
navy. I recommend that they be allowed to do so. I enclose a list of mechanics among the 
"recruits." Respectfully submitted, 

W. D. PICKETT, Lieutenant-Colonel and Inspector-General. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 972, 973, 974.) 

SABINA DISMUKES TO PRESIDENT DAVIS. 

Statesburg, S. C, Oct. 12, 1864. 
Dear Sir: 

Inclosed you will find an account of the terrible sufferings of the Yankee prisoners 
at Florence, S. C. In the name of all that is holy, is there nothing that can be done to re- 
lieve such dreadful suflfering? If such things are allowed to continue they will most surely 
draw down some awful judgment upon our country. It is a most horrible national sin that 
cannot go unpunished. If we cannot give them food and shelter, for God's sake parole 
them and send them back to Yankee land, but don't starve the miserable creatures to death. 
II>on't think that I have any liking for the Yankee; I have none. Those near and dear to 
me have suffered too much from their tyranny for me to have anything but hatred to them, 
but I have not yet become quite brute enough to know of such suffering without trying to 
do something, even for a Yankee. 

Yours respectfully, 

SABINA DISMUKES. 

(For the Sumter Watchman.) 

CORRESPONDENCE TO SUMTER WATCHMAN. 

THE PRISONERS AT FLORENCE. 
Mr. Editor: It may not be uninteresting to your numerous readers to hear some- 
thing from the Yankee camp at Florence. Your correspondent went over, upon the sum- 
mons of one of those ominous O. B.'s which the times have made more familiar than agree- 
able, to take a drove of cattle to the camp. Our party had in charge animals of all sizes, 
sexes, and conditions, from the patriarch of the herd, whose seamed and wrinkled front 
bore the marks of many a bloody battle, to "old crumpie," who had served her day at the 
milk pail, and whose constitution was evidently unable to stand the blasts of another March. 
We lost three on the way; two straggled and one fell from exhaustion. The buzzards after 
all were not cheated of their long expected prey. The country through which we traveled 
is "flat, stale and unprofitable." The crops are poor, and every cotton field destroyed by 
the "army worm," as if in imitation of its more intelligent namesake. No object of curios- 
ity was encountered on the way, unless we take into account the "long bridge," over what 
the natives call "Spawa Swamp." Most of the houses were uninhabited, with fences and 
outbuildings going to ruin. 

No product now the barren fields afford, 

But men and steel, the soldiers and his sword. 

The camp we found full of what were once human beings, but who would scarcely now 
be recognized as such. In an old field, with no inclosure but the living wall of sentinels 
who guard them night and day, are several thousand filthy, diseased, famished men, with 
no hope of relief except death. A few dirty rags stretched on poles give some of them 
a poor protection from the hot sun and heavy dews. All were in rags and barefoot and 
crawling with vermin. As we passed around the line of guards I saw one of them brought 
out from his miserable booth, by two of his companions, and laid upon the ground to die. 
He was nearly naked. His companions pulled his cap over his face and straightened out 
his limbs. Before they turned to leave him he was dead. A slight movement of the limb 
and all was over. The captive was free! The commissary's tent was near one side of the 
square, and near it the beef was laid upon boards preparatory to its distribution. This 
sight seemed to excite the prisoners as the smell of blood does the beasts of a menagerie. 
They surged up as near the lines as they were allowed, and seemed in their eagerness about 
to break over. While we were on the ground a heavy rain came up, and they seemed 
greatly to enjoy it, coming out a puris naturalibus, opening their mouths to catch the drops, 
while one would wash off another with his hands and then receive from him the like kind 
office. Numbers get out at night and wander to the neighboring houses in quest of food. 

From the camp of the living we passed to the camp of the dead — the hospital; a 
transition which reminded me of Satan's soliloquy: 

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell; 
And in the lowest deep, a lower deep. 
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide. 

A few tents, covered with pine tops, were crowded with the dying and the dead, in 
every stage of corruption. Some lay in prostrate helplessness ; some had crowded under 



FLORENCE. 305 

the shelter of the bushes ; some were rubbing their skeleton limbs. Twenty or thirty of 
them die daily, most of these, as I was informed, of the scurvy. The corpses lay by the 
roadside waiting for the dead cart, their glassy eyes turned to heaven, the flies swarming 
in their mouths, their big toes tied together with a cotton string, and their skeleton arms 
folded on their breasts. You would hardly know them to be men, so sadly do hunger, 
disease, and wretchedness change "the human face divine." Presently came the cajts! 
They were carried a little distance to trenches dug for the purpose, and tumbled in like 
so many dogs ; a few pine tops were thrown upon the bodies, a few shovelfuls of dirt, and 
then haste was made to open a new ditch for other victims. The burying party were 
Yankees, detailed for the work ; an appointment which, as the sergeant told me, they con- 
sidered as a favor, for they get a little more to eat, and enjoy fresh air. 

Thus we saw, at one glance, the three great scourges of mankind — war, famine, and 
pestilence ; and we turn from the spectacle sick at heart, as we remember that some of our 
loved ones may be undergoing a similar misery. 

"Man's inhumanity to man makes countless millions mourn." 

Soon 8,000 more will be added to their number, and where the provisions are to 
come from to feed this multitude is a difficult problem. Five thousand pounds of bacon or 
10,000 pounds of beef daily seems, in addition to more urgent drafts upon her, far beyond 
the ability of South Carolina, 

The question is: Are we not doing serious injury to our cause in keeping these pris- 
oners to divide with us our scanty rations? Would it not be better at once to release them 
on parole? HOWARD. 

First Endorsement. 

Respectfully referred, by direction of the President, to the Honorable Secretary of 
war. BURTON N. HARRISON, 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 976-977.) Private Secretary. 

REPORT OF MAJ. JOHN C. RUTHERFORD. 

Headquarters, Post Richmond, Va., Nov. 5 1864 

Maj. Garnett Andrews, Assistant Adjutant General: Major: I have the honor to 
make the following report of the mihtary prison at Florence, S. C. : * * * 

The prison consists of a stockade made of heavy pieces of timber set upright in the 
ground from three to four feet deep, surrounded with a ditch about five feet deep and 
seven wide, with the dirt thrown up against the stockade, making a walk for the sentinels 
about three feet from the top of the palisades. The stockade is 1,400 feet long and 725 
feet wide, inclosing about 23% acres, about six acres of which is swamp and cannot be 
used for camping prisoners. A large branch runs through the stockade, the upper part of 
which is used for washing and drinking, and the lower part carries oflF the filth from the 
sinks. 

The grand total, including the paroled and those in hospitals, is 11,424; 90 paroled 
and 599 in hospital. The majority of those paroled are confined within the limits of half 
a mile from stockade; others employed as blacksmiths, etc., in Florence are allowed a much 
larger limit, the stockade being about two miles from the town. Others are used in the 
commissary department as laborers, etc. Prisoners appear to be emaciated and in bad 
health, perhaps the inevitable result of prison life. They receive very little meat, but are 
subsisted on sorghum sirup and meal. On the day of inspection meat was being distributed 
— fresh beef — but I was informed by the authorities that meat rations was seldom issued. 
Prisoners do their own cooking and are very poorly provided with cooking utensils, com- 
pelling those without to trade off a portion of their rations for the use of pots, ovens, etc. 
Prisoners made great complaint of scarcity of wood. Wood is cut and brought by the 
prisoners and then distributed to the prison. A large quantity of wood was ready for dis- 
tribution on the day of inspection, hence I consider the complaint as only temporary. 

Prisoners have a shelter only such as they may have constructed for themselves. 
Small huts, built partly of wood and dirt, of every variety and form, some over holes dug 

in the ground, with little dirt chimneys — some comfortable and others very uncomfortable 

constitute the interior of the prison. The prison hospital, improperly so-called, is situated 
inside of the stockade, and is simply separated from tiie rest of the prison by a pole-fence. 
It would require a very close examination to discover any more comfort in the hospital 
than in the regular prison, the only shelter being such rude huts as have already been de- 
scribed. A rough frame-work was in a state of completion, capable of holding about 100 
prisoners, which will provide more effectually for the comfort of the sick. With very 
little additional expense the condition of these prisoners could be very much ameliorated. 
I would recommend that logs be hauled in the prison ; the prisoners could then very easily 
construct houses for themselves. They are very poorly provided with blankets, and will 
suffer a great deal from cold and exposure this winter. Our government cannot furnish 
blankets, hence I have recommended that material be furnished them for constructing 
houses. ♦ * * 

JOHN C. RUTHERFORD, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General. 
(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 1097-1098.) 



306 CONFEDERATE PRISON LIFE 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. JOHN H. WINDER. 
Hdqrs. Prisons East of the Mississippi, Salisbury, N. C, Dec. 13, 1864. 
Gen. S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va. General: I have the 
honor to report that having inspected at Florence, from whence my last communication 
was dated, * * * The site itself is entirely unfit for the purpose, as about one-fourth or 
more, probably one-third, is an impracticable morass, and cannot, without more labor and 
expense than building a new stockade, be in any manner reclaimed, as it would require the 
whole of the soil on the dry parts for three or four feet to cover the morass of marsh, and 
when covered would not be fit for use. * * * The ratio of mortality at Florence and 
Salisbury exceeds, I think, that at Andersonville. * * * 
(O. R Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 1219-1221.) JOHN H. WINDER, Brigadier-General. 

REPORT OF COL. H. FORNO. 

Columbia, S. C, Jan. 27, 1865. 

Brig. Gen. J. H. Winder, Commissary General of Military Prisons: General: In 
obedience to Special Orders, No. 15, of January 23, I have the honor to report the results 
of an inspection made by me of the military prison at Florence, S. C. The general disci- 
pline is perfectly satisfactory; everything in the interior of the stockade exhibits great 
energy and tact. The hospital department is ample and comfortable, and the patients are 
well cared for. The subsistence department is entirely deficient, and the ration issued daily 
amounts almost to starvation. There has been but two issues of meat in the last two months 
and scarcely ever sirup. This will be better explained by document marked A, from Lieut. 
Col. Iverson; commanding prison. 

There is no officer of the Quartermaster's Department at this prison nor any transpor- 
tation, and the laborers (prisoners) are compelled to carry the timber for the construction 
of buildings necessary for the public use on their shoulders fully one mile. * * * The 
number of prisoners are as follows : In the stockade, 6,845 ; paroled to work, 156 ; in hospi- 
tal, 537; total. 7,538. * * * 

H. FORNO, Colonel Provisional Army. 

: : INDORSEMENT OF GEN. WINDER. 

' [First Indorsement.] 

■ Columbia, S. C, June 28, 1865. 

Respectfully referred to Adjutant and Inspector General and attention asked to report 
on Subsistence Department. The ration to prisoners is very small and insufficient Great 
inconvenience is felt from not having an assistant commissary of subsistence to the prisoners. 
I find that where we have to depend upon the staflF officers of the posts we can get nothing 
but what is forced out of them. 

JOHN H. WINDER, Brigadier-General. 

INDORSEMENT OF COMMISSARY GENER.\L. 
[Fourth Indorsement.] 

Subsistence Bltieau, Feb. 4, 1865. 
Respectfully returned to Adjutant and Inspector General. Unless more money is fur- 
nished the bureau it will be impossible to continue to issue the present ration to prisoners 
of war, much less to increase it. 

L. B. NORTHROP. Commissary-General. 

; INDORSEMENT OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 

T : [Seventh Indorsement] 

Feb. 18. 1865. 
Respectfully returned to the Honorable Secretary of War. Every effort is being made 
to supply the necessary funds for the pay of our returned prisoners. The means at the com- 
mand of the Treasury-is extremely limited, and no provision has yet been made by Congress 
for the replenishment of the Treasury. 

G. A. TRENHOLM, Secretary of the Treasury. 

REPORT OF LIEUT. COL. JNO. F. IVERSON. 
[Inclosure, A.] 
Hdqrs. Florence Military Prison, Near Florence, S. C, Jan. 26. 1865. 
Col. H. Forno, Inspector Military Prisons, South Carolina: Colonel: I have the 
honor to state that the post commissary is issuing the following rations to the prisoners at 
this prison : One pound of meal, one-third pound of peas, three pounds of salt per 100 
rations per day. No soap, tobacco, or meat is issued, except one-half pound of beef per day 
to men who do duty as laborers on Government work. These rations are, in my judgment, 
totally insufficient for the sustenance of the prisoners, and I respectfully urge that if pos- 
sible, the rations be increased. . ^ . ^ . 

JNO. F. IVERSON, Lieut. Col. Comdg. 

(O. R. Ser. II, Vol. VII, pp. 137-139.) 



GEN. WESSELL'S APPEAL 307 

GEN. WESSELLS APPEALS FOR AN EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. 

Hdqrs. Dept. of S. Car., Ga., and Fla., Charleston, S. C, July 1, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, Comd'g Dept. of the South, Hilton Head : 

General : I send with this a letter addressed by five general officers of the U. S. 
Army, now prisoners of war in this city, to Brig. Gen. L. Thomas, Adjutant General U. S. 
Army, recommending and asking an exchange of prisoners of war. I fully concur in 
opinion with the officers who have signed the letter that there should be an exchange of 
prisoners of war, and, although I am not instructed by my Government to enter into 
negotiations for that purpose, I have no doubt that it is willing and desirous now, as it 
has ever been, to exchange prisoners of war with your Government on just and honorable 
plans. Our difficulty in the way of carrying out the cartel of exchange agreed on between 
the two Governments would not exist, that I am aware of, if the exchange was conducted 
between you and myself. If, therefore, you think proper to communicate on the subject 
with your Government I will, without delay, communicate with mine, and it may be that 
we can enter into an agreement, subject to the approval of our respective Governments, 
by which the prisoners of war now languishing in confinement may be released. I should 
be glad to aid in so humane a work, and to the end that there may be no unnecessary delay 
on my part I have directed an officer of my staff, Maj. John F. Lay, assistant adjutant 
and inspector general, charged with the delivery of this, to wait a reasonable time in the 
vicinity of Port Royal Ferry for your answer. He is fully informed of my views on 
tliis subject, and, if you desire it, will confer with you or any officer you may designate. 
Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, 

Sam. Jones, Major-General Commanding. 
[Inclosure.] 

Charleston, S. C, July 1, 1864. 
Brig. Gen. L. Thomas, Adjt. Gen., U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. 

(Through Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, Comd'g. Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, S. C.) 
General : We desire respectfully to represent through you to our authorities our 
firm belief that a prompt exchange of prisoners of war in the hands of the Southern 
Confederacy, if exchanges are to be made, is called for by every consideration of humanity. 
There are many thousands confined at southern points of the Confederacy, in a climate to 
which they are unaccustomed, deprived of much of the food, clothing, and shelter they 
have habitually received, and it is not surprising that from these and other causes that 
need not be enumerated here much suffering, sickness, and death should ensue. In this 
matter the statements of our own officers are confirmed by Southern journals. And 
while we cheerfully submit to any policy that may be decided upon by our Government, 
we would urge that the great evils that must result from any delay that is not desired 
should be obviated by the designation of some point in this vicinity at which exchanges 
might be made — a course, we are induced to believe, that would be acceded to by the 
Confederate authorities. 

And we are, general, very respectfully your obedient servants, 

H. W. Wessells, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
T. Seymour, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
E. P. Scammon, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
C. A. Heckman, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
Alexander Shaler, Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols. 

Prisoners of War. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XXXV, pp. 161-162.) 

Charleston, S. C, July 1, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster, Comdg. Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, S. C. : 

General: The journals of this morning inform us, for the first time, that five general 
officers of the Confederate service have arrived at Hilton Head, with a view to their 
being subjected to the same treatment that we are receiving here. We think it is just to 
ask for these officers every kindness and courtesy that you can extend to them, in ac- 
knowledgement of the fact that we, at this -time, are as pleasantly and comfortably sit- 
uated as possible for prisoners of war, receiving from the Confederate authorities every 
privilege that we could desire or expect, nor are we unnecessarily exposed to fire. 
Respectfully, general, your obedient servants, 

H. W. Wessells, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
T. Seymour, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 
E. P. Scammon, Brig. Gen. 
C. A. Heckman, Bri. Gen., Vols. 
Alexander Shaler, Brig. Gen., U. S. Vols. 

Prisoners of War. 
(O. R. Ser. 1, Vol. XXXV, part II, p. 163.) 



308 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Hdqrs. Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, S. C, July 29, 1864. 
Gen. Wessells: My dear General: I have just received authority to exchange the 
prisoners in my hands, rank for rank, or their equivalents, according to the cartel. I send 
an aide-de-camp to make arrangements for the exchange. 

Yours truly, J. G. Foster. 

(O. R.. Ser. 1, Vol. XXXV. part II, p. 199.) 

Hdqrs. Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, S. C, Aug. 4, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C.: 

General : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th 
[ultimo], authorizing me to exchange the prisoners of war now in my hands, and to 
report that I made such exchange yesterday in Charleston Harbor, and that our released 
officers, comprising 5 general and 45 field officers, will proceed North on the steamer 
Fulton', under command of Brig. Gen. Wessells, who has orders to report to the Adjutant 
General of the Army from Fort Monroe, and also from New York, if no orders are 
received before their arrival in the latter city. Three line officers that escaped from the 
railroad train en route to Charleston are sent with the other officers. I have the honor to 
be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. G. Foster, Maj.-Gen. Commanding. 
(0. R. Ser, 1, Vol. XXXV, part II. pp. 212-213.) 

THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REUNION OF THE lOlST AND 103D REGIMENTS. 

Thirty-First Annual Reunion of the joist and 103D Regiments at Fox- 
burg, Penna., September 16, 1909. 

The 101st and 103d Regiments, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry, became ac- 
quainted with each other at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, Pa., in February, 1862 During the sub- 
sequent three and a half years, the service of one was identical with the other. The 
comradeship formed in the service has been cemented by annual reunions which have been 
held jointly since 1880. The last one, held September 16, 1909, was one of the most enjoy- 
able ones, and considering the decreasing number of surviving members, one of the best 
attended since the war. The large attendance was due to two reasons ; Foxburg being 
a central point to Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Venango Counties, from which the 
largest part of the 103d Regiment vras recruited. However, the paramount reason was due 
to the whole souled courtesy of the citizens of Foxburg, who supplemented the invitation 
of the committee of arrangements by a second invitation, which was sent to every sur- 
viving member of the two regiments whose addresses could be procured, and a proffer of 
entertainment as guests of the citizens, not only of the members of the regiments, but also 
of their friends. Systematic arrangements were made, and the homes of Foxburg were 
thrown open to the visitors. The program, arranged jointly by the Association committee 
and the citizens, was carried out with but slight change. Owing to the unavoidable absence 
of Hon. J. H. Longenecker, the response to "The 101st Regiment" was made by John A. 
Reed. Corporal Luther S. Dickey responded to "Casey's Division at Seven Pines." F. L 
Harvey, the legal representative of the Fox Estate, on whom the burden of entertainment 
rested, and to whose indefatigable efforts the reunion, in some respects eclipsed all others, 
was elected an honorary member of the Association, and was selected as Toastmaster for 
the Camp Fire, a post he graced in a most felicitous manner. The program was as follows : 

REUNION OF lOlST AND 103rD REGIMENTS, PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, THURSDAY, 

SEPTEMBER 16, 1909, AT FOXBURG, PA. 

Members of Foxburg Post, committee of whole to meet incoming trains care for and enter- 
tain visitors. 
12 M.— Meeting at Golf Links. Lunch. 

1 P. M. — Business Meeting. 

2 to 5 :30 — Amusement on grounds. Tug of war between Regiments. Champions from each 

regiment to maintain the "Honor of the Regiment" at Horse Shoes, Volley Bali, 

Driving Golf Ball, Wrestling, etc. 
6:30— Supper in Lincoln Hall. (Only those having tickets will be admitted to supper.) 
7:30 — Smoke and Band Music 
8 :00— Campfire. 
Music. 



THIRTY-FIRST REUNION 309 

Invocation — Rev. A. A. Benton, Foxburg, Pa. 

Address of Welcome — Joseph M. Fox, Foxburg, Pa. 

Reply — Capt. John A. Reed, Pittsburg, Pa. 

Music, song (chorus). 

The 103d Regiment— Hon. Thomas Hays, Butler, Pa. 

The 101st Regiment— Hon. J. H. Longenecker, Bedford, Pa. 

Recitation — Miss America Sheats. 

The G. A. R.— Comrade E. G. Beecher, Foxburg, Pa. 

The Dead — Rev. John Lusher, Parker, Pa. 

Recitation — Miss Maude McGeary. 

Character Song — Comrade Samuel H. Morrow, Parker, Pa. 

The Ladies, "Our Girls of '64"— Comrade J. D. Murphy, St. Petersburg, Pa. 

Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech — Comrade John F. Baker. 

Character Song — Comrade R. M. Sheats. 

Short speeches, songs and choruses, as the time, the circumstances and the spirit prompts. 

"The address of Welcome," by Joseph M. Fox, of Foxburg, was impressively deliyered 
without notes or manuscript and appears here verbatim as delivered. 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY JOSEPH M FOX. 

We are here this evening to do what feeble honor we may, to men who in time long 
passed, imperiled their lives for us. Who for us made a sacrifice of four weary years from 
those which had been allotted to them on this earth, a sacrifice in the long ago, but which 
we have not forgotten. On behalf of those who are here to greet them I give a warm word 
of welcome to our guests, the veterans of the Civil War ; with it there is mingled a feeling 
of sadness that their number is not greater ; but time has wrought at its ceaseless task, and 
now we can only clasp the hands of the remnant of two thousand men who when their 
country called to them forty-eight years ago left their homes, and all that to them was 
cherished and held dear, who in the vigor of early manhood went from their Western hills 
to a soldier's life, many of them to a soldier's fate meted out on the field of battle, or in 
the fever infested region where for years it was their lot to be. 

As a lad of seven years I had the passive part of an eye witness to the going away 
of Company A of the 103d Regiment, it was recruited in this county and its members first 
came together at the mouth of the Oarion River where a boat was in waiting to take them 
to Camp Orr, the first step on their long journey, the end of which no man could know, 
and I saw the swollen river take their boat in its mighty power, and the swiftly flowing 
waters bear them toward the dim unknown, to years of service, of suffering, of toil; and to 
some of them no doubt, although today maybe no man can call their names, it was the 
beginning of a journey from which there would be no return, for before its cycle could be 
completed another and a longer one was before them, the last that comes to man ; at its 
threshold death awaited them; and as the current bore them away these men looked for the 
last time on their mighty hills, and said an everlasting good-bye to those from whom they 
parted. 

The story of these Regiments, the 101st and 103 Pennsylvania Volunteers, whose 
survivors we honor tonight, is nearly identical, and it is presently to be told by others ; they 
were to march together and were to share the same fate. In April, 1862, they were assigned 
to Keim's Brigade of Casey's division and sent to the Peninsula, where they took part in the 
siege of Yorktown. They were first to be drawn up in battle line and face the hot fire of 
the enemy on the banks of the Chickahominy at the Battle of Fair Oaks; in this engage- 
ment they acquitted themselves bravely, and lost heavily in killed and wounded. After 
Fair Oaks came weary and trying days to these men; it was not for them to experience 
the thrill of great conflicts, or to march with mighty armies ; they were not to share in the 
great battles of the war, either for victory or defeat. Theirs was to be a harder fate. 
They were detached from the Army of the Potomac and thenceforth they knew the hard- 
ships, but not the laurels of war; they knew the cross, but not the crown of glory. They 
were to lie in pestilential swamps and to make their home in the fever and ag^e stricken 
camp. They were to fight in the dark morass and to learn the warfare of the guerilla. 
They were to know exposure, cold, suffering and disease, and the graves of many were to 
be made and left behind as they marched on — never at rest, they were to go where the 



310 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

services of men were needed. White Oak Swamp, Plymouth, Roanoke knew their tread. 
Fortress Monroe, Fort Williams, Malvern Hill, Kinston echoed to their marching feet. 
And so from the Battle of Fair Oaks in May, 1862, for two long years were these regiments 
given may be the hardest lot that could fall to soldiers. The end came in April, 1864, when 
for three days their Brigade gallantly held Fort Williams against an overwhelming force 
of the enemy, but with further fighting meaning only a further loss of men, even to anni- 
hilation, they surrendered to the enemy, and the active work of these two regiments was 
ended, while passive pain and privation awaited them. The officers were sent to Macon, 
Georgia, and the enlisted men to Andersonville ; of the horrors of Andersonville it is not 
necessary to speak. Nameless graves and hastily filled trenches hold there the bones of 
many brave men who nearly three years before they died had left the flowing rivers and 
the mighty hills of their Western land to give, if need be, all for their country — and even 
to their lives they did give all. The few that left Andersonville, a sad number, may be 
half of those who had entered its gloomy gates of death, were in the Spring of 1865 sent 
to Wilmington, North Carohna, and exchanged They then went to Camp Parole, near 
to Annapolis, and an effort was made to recruit and revive these shattered and war-worn 
regiments. The effort was unnecessary and was but partially successful, and the end of 
their service came to these weary men on June 25, 1865, when the war being over they were 
mustered out at New Bern, North Carolina. 

And so ends their story ; a story that it is to be hoped will some day be told in a 
regimental history, for until then the acts and deeds of one thousand men and the particular 
individual courage and daring of some of them will never in detail be known. And yet 
their story does not need many words, it may be enough to say, and it is much to say, that 
these two regiments went bravely through four weary years of faithful, unremitting and 
cflEicient service. But think not, veterans, well as ye have earned your rest, that your work 
is yet over; as you preserved the Union inviolate, so must you still in the years that are yet 
to be yours, use the influence of older men that that which you gave to us shall not be 
tarnished ; that the unity of these states for which you fought and bled, shall be in truth a 
imity, one people, one country, one government, one flag. Your days of work are nearly 
over and a younger generation has that which you gave to it. On that generation there is 
now a solemn duty, and to each member of it a sacred charge is given, and that duty, that 
charge can only be fulfilled and kept by an individual honesty of political purpose, for that 
alone can lead to the collective honesty of the nation. And the men who live today, and 
those who in the coming years shall follow them must know a patriotism rising above self- 
interest, and the shallow partisanship of party ties, that the sacrifice that has been made 
for them shall not have been in vain. The war has long been over; the noise of many battles 
has died away in infinite space, and the foul smoke of belching guns has been borne away by 
the pitying air, and so. thank God, our passions and our prejudices die, and now we can 
see more clearly than we could in the heat of the conflict, nearly five decades ago; now 
indeed we can recognize the valor of the North, and the courage of the South as well, and 
now the Blue and the Gray commingled can march together as they did in the Spanish War, 
each striving for the glory of the flag that waves where the breezes stir the tropical palmetto, 
as well as where the fiercer winds sweep through the Northern pine. 

MEMBERS PRESENT AT REUNION. 
FROM lOlST REGIMENT. 

Edwin R. Boots, New Brighton, Pa. Richard Morgan, Soldiers' Home, I>ayton, O. 

John C. Caterson, New Castle, Pa. John A. Reed, Court House, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Graham Coulter, New Galilee, Pa. Daniel W. Swick, New Brighton, Pa. 

George P. Craig, Carnegie, Pa. Tohn Ireland, Whitcash, Pa. 

John Horn, 310 39th St., Pittsburg, Pa. Jonas Walker, Court House, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

FROM 103d regiment. 

Abraham Adams, Parker's Landing, Pa. John J. Ashbaugh, St. Petersburg, Pa. 

Alvin H. Alexander, Clarion, Pa, George Barr. 116 Hall Ave., Washmgton, Pa. 

C B. Alt, Tylersburg, Pa. J. M. Black, Parker's Landing, Pa. 

J. J. Anthony, Climax, Pa. D- K. Barnacle. Pittsburgh, Pa. 



THIRTY-FIRST REUNION 



311 



Robert P. Black, Chicora, Pa. 

Daniel Bowser, Parker's Landing, Pa. 

Samuel C. Burkholder, Butler, Pa 

S. D. Burns, Sligo, Pa. 

T. J. Callen, Sligo, Pa. 

Oliver P. Campbell, West Sunbury, Pa. 

James H. Chambers, Vandergrift, Pa. 

Thomas A. Cochran, Apollo, Pa. 

Cyrus Croup, Avalon, Pa. 

L. S. Dickey, Chicago, 111. 

F. Duffy. North Washington, Pa, 

John P. Ervvin, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

S. M. Evans, Avalon, Pa. 

Philip Foust, St. Petersburg, Pa. 

William Gayler, Knox, Pa. 

Jacob Guiher, South Sharon, Pa. 

John Guiher, Granpion, Pa. 

John A. Gwinn, Parnassus, Pa. 

S. W. Hamilton, Vandergrift, Pa. 

J. M. Hayes, Parker's Landing, Pa. 

Thomas Hays, Butler, Pa. 

John J. Hile, Hobokcn, Pa. 

Robert Hooks, Kittanning, Pa. 

W. D. Keefer, West Monterey, Pa. 

P. Klingler, St. Petersburg, Pa. 

Wm. B. Kroesen, Etna, Pa. 

Joseph R. Landis, Manorville, Pa. 

A. W. Lang, Marion Center, Pa. 

Qarion J. Logue, McKees Rocks, Pa. 

Jackson McCoy, Slippery Rock, Pa. 



Samuel McCoy, Shipensville, Pa. 

H. J. McGill, Bullion, Pa. 

Henry Montgomery, Euclaire, Pa. 

John S. Moorhead, New Bethlehem, Pa. 

Joseph Moyer, Leetonia, Ohio. 

Sebastian Niederriter, Marble, Pa. 

G. W. Pifer, Du Bois. Pa. 

B. S. Rankin, Karns City, Pa. 

James Rankin, Saxonburg, Pa. 

Isaiah Reese, Sligo, Pa. 

J. W. Richardson, Shippensville, Pa. 

Jacob Rupert, Curlsville, Pa. 

John F. Rupert, Knox, Pa. 

Samuel Rupert, Parker's Landing, Pa 

B. H. Scott. Pittsburgh, Pa. 
W. B. Sedwick, Foxburg, Pa, 
W. H. Shaffer, Hartford, Conn. 
Isaac Shakely, Emlenton, Pa. 

Levi Shrekengost, New Bethlehem, Pa. 
L. H. Slagle, East Brady, Pa. 
Uriah Sloan, Emlenton, Pa. 
F. Smullin, New Bethlehem, Pa. 
Isaac Stiffey, Emlenton, Pa. 

C. G. W. Stover, Callensburg, Pa. 
John D. Taggart, Allegheny, Pa. 
John Walter, Wilkinsburg, Pa. 
Valentine E. Whitener, Chicora, Pa. 
Lewis Wolford, Keister, Pa. 
Jeremiah Wyant, Kittanning, Pa. 



Foxburg is located on the banks of the Allegheny river at the confluence of the Qarion 
river. It is built on land owned by the Fox heirs, all on leased lots. The Fox family i« 
one of the oldest Pennsylvania families. The most remote American ancestor was Justinian 
Fox, who followed William Penn to Philadelphia, within a few years after the arrival of 
the founder of Pennsylvania. His son, Joseph Fox was elected speaker of the Colonial 
Assembly, January 10, 1765. His son, Samuel Mickle Fox, in anticipation of future values, 
became a heavy purchaser of lands in the western part of the State, including the land 
now in Clarion County belonging to the Fox heirs. At his death, 118,000 acres, not in- 
cluding the land in Clarion County, were divided among the heirs. His oldest son, Joseph 
Mickle Fox, bought from the trustees under his father's will, 12 tracts of land in Clarion 
County, containing 13,284 acres, the consideration paid being $11,429 and 40 cents. He 
married Hannah Emlen, after whom the town of Emlenton is named. In 1827 he located 
on his lands in Clarion County, near the site of Foxburg, and since that time the Fox 
family have made this their summer home, residing in Philadelphia during the winter. He 
died in 1845, leaving this vast estate to his widow and an only son, Samuel Mickle Fox, then 
24 years old. The latter died at Foxburg on Christmas day, 1869, leaving four children, 
two of whom survive, a son and daughter, the former being Joseph M. Fox, w^ho made 
the address of welcome. 

From Oil City Derrick, September 18, 1909 : 

FOXBURG, Pa., Sept. 17. — (Special) — The thrifty, enterprising people of this town 
did themselves great credit yesterday, adding to their well-known reputation as entertainers, 
by the open-hearted hospitality extended to the survivors of the One Hundred and First 
and One Hundred and Third regiments, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the occasion 
being their thirty-first annual reunion. The reception was the most cordial and liberal ever 
given the soldiers, many of whom spoke in highest terms of the treatment they received. 
The day was an ideal one and hundreds of people from surrounding towns and country 
were present and joined with the old soldiers in the festivities. There were also a large 
number of veterans present who saw service in other regiments. The business kouses and 
residences of the town were profusely decorated with flags and bunting, presenting a 
veritable holiday appearance. 

Most of the members of the two noted regiments arrived on the morning trains and 
at 11 :30 o'clock the procession marched from the Allegheny Valley railroad depot through 



312 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

the town and up the hill to the golf grounds in the following order: Allegheny Drum 
corps; Fox camp, No. 127, Sons of Veterans, carrying arms. Commander John E. Womer 
in command, as escort ; Foxburg post, No. 249, G. A. R., Commander John F. Baker in 
command; St. Petersburg Drum corps; Lookout post, No. 425, G. A. R., of St. Petersburg, 
Commander Peter Klinger in command; members of One Hundred and First and One Hun- 
dred and Third regiments ; Foxburg Cornet band ; citizens and visitors. On reaching the 
grove at the golf grounds Fox camp, Sons of Veterans, formed in open order and the 
procession passed between the lines and disbanded. 

Dinner was in waiting, three large tables being filled with everything that could be 
desired. The ladies of the Women's Relief corps had this important feature in charge and 
it certainly reflected great credit upon them. Over 400 persons were served. 

Immediately after dinner there were contests for the best snare drummer and the 
best fifer, the prizes being silver cups. Captain John A. Reed and Samuel M. Evans of 
Pittsburg, and George Parker of Parker were the judges. 

The first prize in the drumming contest was awarded to M. A. Hallack of Allegheny 
township, Butler county, and the second to J. J. Ashbaugh of St. Petersburg. Mr. Hallack 
is an old soldier. He was a member of the Eighty-fifth regiment. New York Volunteer 
Infantry, and is 68 years old. Harry Howe of Perrysville, Qarion county, was awarded 
the fifer prize. He is an old-time player, being in his 78th year. There was no second 
prize awarded. 

A horseshoe pitching contest, a tug of war and other features during the afternoon 
proved interesting. The members of the One Hundred and First and One Hundred and 
Third regiments were photographed, and enjoyed every minute of the time in comradeship 
and various other ways, the beautiful grounds and unfettered surroundings seeming to fill 
them with new life and vigor. 

A business meeting of the members of the two visiting reg^iments was held in one 
of the adjoining groves. Captain John A. Reed of Pittsburg, secretary of the One Hun- 
dred and First Regimental Association, and vice president of the joint regimental associa- 
tion, presided, in the absence of the president. A number of letters from members of both 
regiments who were unable to attend the reunion and other communications were read. The 
place of holding the next annual reunion was left with the executive committee, with 
instructions to give preference to Pittsburg, or some place near that city. Mr. F. L. Harvey 
of Foxburg, chairman of the local committee of arrangements and who was very largely 
responsible for the highly satisfactory manner in which all the details were carried out, 
was elected an honorary member of the regimental association. The following officers 
were elected for the ensuing year: President, Dr. W. B. Kroesen, Etna, Pa.; first vice 
president, John A. Kelly, Philadelphia; second vice-president, E. R. Boots, New Brighton, Pa.; 
secretary, for One Hundred and First regiments, John A. Reed, Pittsburg; secretary, for 
One Hundred and Third regiment, T. J. McKee, Pittsburg; treasurer, S. M. Evans, Pitts- 
burg; executive committee for One Hundred and First regiment, Jonas Walker, Pittsburg, 
and John Catterson, New Castle; executive committee for One Hundred and Third regi- 
ment, James Cooper, Pittsburg, and James H. Cnambers, Vandergrift, Pa. 

Comrade Luther S. Dickey of Chicago, 111., explained the nature and scope of a history 
of the two regiments being compiled by him, after which the meeting adjourned. 

Supper was served at 5 o'clock by the ladies of the Relief Corps, and almost as many 
partook as for dinner. Evening was well advanced before the grounds were deserted. 

There were about 80 of the two regiments in attendance at the reunion, the members 
of the One Hundred and Third regiment being largely in the majority. This was prac- 
tically owing to the fact that more of the members live near Foxburg than those of the 
One Hundred and First. 

Colonel Joseph H. Wilson of Beaver, Pa., was the first colonel of the One Hundred 
and First regiment. He died May 30, 1862. His successor was Colonel D. B. Morris of 
Pittsburg, who died in February, 1908, aged 81 years. Lieutenant Colonel A. W. Taylor, 
who is still living in Greenville, Tenn., at the age of 74, was in actual command of the 
regiment from December, 1862, until April 20, 1864, when it was captured at Plymouth. 
Honorable J. H. Longenecker of Bedford, Pa., who is still living, was the adjutant. 

Colonel T. F. Lehmann, Colonel W. C. Maxwell and Major Audley Gazzman, all of 
whom are dead, were officers of the One Hundred and Third regiment. Following are 
some of the original company of officers of the regiment who attended the reunion : J. H. 
Chambers, lieutenant of Company K; S. D. Burns, lieutenant of Company H; Dr. W. B. 
Kroesen, Etna, Pa., second lieutenant of Company K, Dr. Kroesen is medical director of 
the Grand Army, Department of Pennsylvania; T. A. Cochran, Apollo, Pa., captain of Com- 
pany C; F. Smullin, Putneyville, Pa., captain of Company D; A. H. Alexander, Oarion, Pa., 
captain of Company A; W. H. Shaffer of Hartford, Conn., a member of the One Hundred 
and Third regiment, traveled farther to attend the reunion than any of the others. 



THIRTY-FIRST REUNION 313 

THE CAMPFERE. 

A campfire was held in Lincoln hall, commencing at 8 p. m. The hall was filled. 
Joseph M. Fox delivered the address of welcome. He reviewed the history of the regi- 
ment and the battles in which they participated in an interesting manner, showing careful 
preparation, and spoke of the perfect union all enjoy by amalgamation of the north and 
south. 

Honorable Thomas M. Hays of Fairview, Pa., gave a brief history of the organiza- 
tion of the One Hundred and Third regiment and its experience on the way to the front. 
Captain John A. Reed of Pittsburg responded to the address of welcome in behalf of the 
veterans and gave some important history of the One Hundred and First regiment, review- 
ing its varied experiences as a part of the Army of the Potomac, and later in North and 
South Carolina. He referred to the trying experiences in Andersonville prison. By a 
count it was found there were 21 present who had been confined there. 

Luther S. Dickey, the historian of the 103d Regiment, talked of the engagement at 
Fair Oaks, where they sustained heavy losses and failed to receive the credit they were 
entitled to. 

"Marching Through Georgia" was next sung and Comrade E. C. Beecher of Fox- 
burg made a short and pertinent address on the G. A. R. Miss Maud McGeary gave a 
recitation entitled "Freedom." 

Professor J. D. Murphy of St. Petersburg spoke of "Our Girls of '64," whom he 
pronounced the brightest, jolliest, sweetest ever. Comrade John F. Baker welcomed the 
visitors in behalf of the G. A. R., Women's Relief Corps and Sons of Veterans. Many 
stories were told by the members of the regiments. 

A resolution was read by Comrade Joseph Moyer of Leetonia, Ohio, thanking the 
people of Foxburg, and especially the ladies of the Women's Relief Corps, for the e.xcellent 
entertainment provided. 

The proceedings closed by singing "God Be With Us 'Till We Meet Again," and 
the pronouncing of the benediction by Rev. A. A. Benton. 

REGIMENTAL BADGE. 

The Regimental badge which appears on the outside of the front cover embraces the 
badges of the Fourth and Eighteenth Army Corps — the two corps with which the Regi- 
ment was identified during its service. The badge of the Fourth Corps was a triangular 
patch; that of the Eighteenth Corps was a patonce cross with floriated ends. 

The Fourth Corps was organized under General Order No. 101, March 13, 1862, by 
which the First, Second and Third Corps were also created. It was formed by the divisions 
of Couch, Smith and Casey, with Gen. E. D. Keyes in command of the corps. The returns 
for March 31, 1862, show that the Fourth Corps then numbered, in the aggregate, 37,910, 
with 60 pieces of artiller}-; of this number, there were 32,919 present for duty. The corps 
moved to the Peninsula in March, 1862, with Gen. McQellan's Army. On May 18, Gen. 
Wm. F. Smith's division was detached and assigned to the newly formed 6th Corps, leaving 
the Fourth Corps to consist of the divisions of Generals Couch and Casey. When the army 
was ordered to abandon its position at Harrison's Landing, Pecks division, (formerly 
Casey's) was ordered to remain on the Peninsula. The Fourth Corps was officially discon- 
tinued in August, 1862. 

On Dec. 24, 1862, the President ordered that the troops in the Department of North 
Carolina should be organized into a corps and designated as the 18th. In February, 1863, 
the roster showed five divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Palmer, Naglee, Ferry, 
Wessells and Prince, with Gen. J. G. Foster in command of the Corps. Ferry's and Nagle's 
divisions — containing sixteen regiments — were detached in February, 1863, and ordered to 
South Carolina. On April 21, 1864, the 18th .A.rmy Corps was reorganized with Maj. Gen. 
William F. Smith in command, the corps then comprising two divisions of white troops and 
a division of colored troops, all assembled at Yorktown and vicinity. The corps was ordered 
discontinued on Dec. 3, 1864. Gen. Palmer was designated as commander of the Department 
of North Carolina on .-^pril 19, 1864, relieving Gen. Peck a few days later. 



314 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

DIARY OF MAJ. JAMES F. MACKEY. 
A Daily Record of Events Covering the Entire Period He Was a Prisoner of War of 

More Than Ten Months, and of the Plymouth Garrison for Nearly Four 
Months Previous to the Capture of the Regiment. 

Maj. James F. Mackey was with the Regiment continuously from the time it left the 
State until it was captured. He enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all the officers and 
enlisted men of the Regiment, although he was not mustered as major until after he was 
mustered out of the service. The fact that the events recorded in his diary were written 
at the time they occurred make them trustworthy. They are published just as recorded 
without any addition, elimination or editorial change. Not intended for publication many 
trivial personal matters might better have been eliminated, but even those little things will 
be of interest to his surviving comrades. 

Jan. 1, 1864. — Morning pleasant ; treated the men of my company to one drink of 
whiskey. Lieut. Burns went on picket. Made out my quarterly return of ordnance. Mailed 
them and my monthly return of camp and garrison equipage. Called on Chaplain of the 101st 
Regt. P. v.; received of him some papers. A girl found dead near the picket line, name 
Emma Blunt. All quiet in camp. Received invitation to ball. Did not go. Blew up very cold. 

Jan. 2. — Morning pleasant but cold all day. Wrote and mailed two letters, one to 
brother Charles and one to son Charles ; paid cash to wash woman ; to A. Krebs for half a 
pound of nuts, and to black man for hauling wood, $1.70; to 85th N. Y. Sutler, for soap, 40 
cents. Capt. Cochran and Co. left for Roanoke Island to relieve Capt. John Donaghy. I 
went to prayer meeting; night very cold. 

Jan. 3. — Morning very beautiful and the day pleasant. Went on inspection. Attended 
church twice. Col. Lehmann being sick and Col. Maxwell absent at Norfolk, I held dress 
parade. Co. F came up from Roanoke Island. Lieut. Chambers stayed with me all night. 
Stayed in quarters all day when not on duty. 

Jan. 4. — Morning wet ; drizzled rain all day. Set on court martial today. Tried and 
convicted two men of the 96th Regt. N. Y. Vols., and one of the 101st Regt. P. V., for 
disobedience of orders. Received of Lieut. Burns for mattress, $3.50. Enlisted twenty-four 
men of Co. H, 103rd P. V., as veterans ; called on Gen. H. W. Wessells on business con- 
cerning re-enlisting my men. 

Jan. 5. — Drizzling rain all day. Monthly inspection today at 3 o'clock P. M. Went 
to court martial ; tried two cases of desertion, found both guilty but mitigating circum- 
stances caused their sentences to be light. Sold one pair boots to Jacob Rupert for $12; 
enlisted eleven men as veterans. Capt. John Donaghy of Co. F. returned to camp from 
Roanoke. 

Jan. 6. — Morning cold and cloudy. Received a letter from my wife and one from 
Baltimore ; attended a court martial ; tried two cases, found both guilty. Paid ten cents 
for New York Herald. Nine o'clock P. M., raining hard and cold. Billy Hammond stays 
with me tonight. 

Jan. 7. — Morning cold ; ground covered with ice. Attended court martial ; tried P. D., 
of Co. K, 103rd P. V., charge drunkenness ; for the want of proof he was acquitted. Bought 
one box sardines, one can of tomatoes of A. Krebs, and some cakes, cost $1.10; nothing of 
importance transpiring today; at 9 P. M. dark and raining. 

Jan. 8. — Morning very cold. The ground covered with snow and ice. The day cold 
and cloudy. Having nothing to do stayed in quarters all day. Received circular from Regt. 
headquarters for the names and date of promotion of Sergts. of Co. H, who re-enlisted as 
veteran volunteers. 

Jan. 9. — Morning cold and icy. Day pleasant overhead. Got two cart loads wood 
hauled by darkey. All quiet during the day ; in the morning my wife came to see me. Mrs. 
McCall came with her, also Capt. Cratty. Col. Maxwell returned from Fort Monroe. 

Jan. 10. — Sabbath morning; cold; stayed last night at Hooker's. Wrote a letter home 
to Laura; stayed part of the day in quarters. Went back to Hooker's; stayed there all 
night ; ate supper and breakfast there. The day pleasant overhead but very sloppy under 
foot. Nothing more of importance. 

Jan. 11. — Morning cold: court martial met at 10 A. M. tried one case then adjourned 
until Wednesday, 10 A. M. The veteran volunteers had a grand parade; made a good show. 
An address from Gen. Wessells read by Lieut. Beegle. Everv-thing went oflF in good order. 
Paid Lieut. McCall $6.25; wife's health improving. Stayed at Hooker's all night. 

Jan. 12. — Morning some warmer, but drizzling rain ; came to quarters 9 A. M. Lieut. 
McCall and lady, and wife came to quarters ; stayed all day. Wife got dinner and supper. 
Dr. Frick and lady called ; also Dr. Rush and Capt. Alexander. Settled with Capt. Cratty 
for wife's fare. Wife stayed all night with me in quarters. 

Jan. 13. — Morning wet ; roads very muddy. Wife and I went to Hooker's ; I went 
from there to court martial ; agreed to meet after a boat came in from New Bern. Went 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 315 

back to Hooker's for dinner, then to quarters. Wife came in the evening to stay with me all 
night. Paid S. P. Willson ten cents for bread. Wrote a letter to G. W. Arnold. Rained all 
day. 

Jan. 14. — Morning still wet and raining, roads very muddy. Col. Maxwell called to 
see us in quarters; stayed with wife in quarters until 2 P. M., then went to court martial; 
tried two privates of the 12th N. Y. cavalry. Went to Hooker's and stayed all night. The 
weather very disagreeable and roads muddy. 

Jan. 15. — Morning pleasant. Ate breakfast at Hooker's ; got shaved, then went to 
court martial; adjourned at 12 M., to meet when notified by judge advocate. Stayed in 
quarters all afternoon. The day very pleasant ; roads dried up. 

Jan. 16. — Morning pleasant. Ate breakfast at Hooker's, then went to quarters. Bought 
two loads wood ; paid cash for same, $1. Nothing of importance today. Wife and I went 
to Hooker's at dark. The weather beautiful. Roads drying up very fast. 

Jan. 17. — Morning very pleasant. Wife came over to morning inspection. Went to 
church in the afternoon ; ate dinner with the old mess. Lieut. McCall and lady. Dr. Frick 
and lady, and Col. Maxwell present ; after dress parade went down to the fort on the 
river in company with the above persons. Went to church at night. 

Jan. 18. — Raining after breakfast; went to quarters; after dinner went to Col. Leh- 
mann's to take depositions. Nothing of importance today. Rained all day, the weather 
warm. 

Jan. 19. — Morning clear and cool, the wind blowing considerable. I went on as general 
officer of the day. Lieut. McCall went with me the first round. Made two rounds during 
the day and one during the night ; all quiet on the lines. I relieved Col. Clark, 8oth N. Y. 
The day pleasant. The roads dried up considerable. 

Jan. 20. — Morning pleasant but cool. Went to guard mount ; was relieved as general 
officer of the day by Maj. Crandall of the 85th N. Y. Regt. Received two letters from daugh- 
ter Laura and one from Sam Young. Wife came to quarters with me. Mustering officer 
came to muster veteran volunteers. The day very pleasant. 

Jan. 21.— Morning very pleasant. Went to quarters at 9 A. M. Wife, Mrs. McCall, 
and Mrs. Fogarty came to quarters; had a pleasant time. Went to see artillery practice, 
then to dinner in the evening. Went to Dr. Frick's ; then to quarters and stayed until bed 
time. The day very pleasant. 

Jan. 22. — Morning very pleasant; just like a spring day in the north. After eating 
breakfast at Hooker's, went to quarters. Wife came over about 10 A. M. and stayed all 
day with me. Cooked dinner in quarters ; it tasted like home dinners used to do. Bought 
one half yard drilling of 85th Sutler, cost 20 cents. On account of lack of sleep felt very 
bad today. Day pleasant. 

Jan. 23. — Morning very pleasant and warm. Came to quarters at 8 :30 A. M. and stayed 
in quarters all day. Got shaved at the barbers and bought tobacco and got Willie to clean 
my sword for which paid 75 cents. Nothing of importance today. Pitched five games quoits 
with Col. Lehmann. 

Jan. 24. — Morning pleasant. Inspection in the morning. Went to church this morn- 
ing, also at night : the day very fine and pleasant. Led the singing in church in the evening. 
Nothing more of importance today. 

Jan. 25. — Morning very pleasant. Commenced making out my quarterly returns for 
1862. 15th and 16th Connecticut came to relieve our old brigade. Wife came to quarters 
in the afternoon ; had a very pleasant time. Today a small expedition went out and captured 
one prisoner and killed one rebel. Will now start for boarding house. 

Jan. 26. — Morning very pleasant. Got up early. Wife not very well. Stayed in quar- 
ters all day. Wife came over in the afternoon. Ate supper in quarters. Col. Maxwell 
invited wife and I to go on expedition. Sent to Col. Lehmann for leave but he was mulish 
and wouldn't let us go. Stayed in quarters all night ; a ball being at Hooker's, where we 
board. The day very warm and clear. 

Jan. 27. — Morning very warm and pleasant. Received letter from brother Charles, also 
young Peiper. Worked all day at ordnance returns for 1862; finished first and second 
quarters. Nothing worthy of note today. The weather very warm. 

Jan. 28. — Morning very pleasant. Went to quarters. Paid Hooker on boarding $15. 
Worked at quarterly returns for 1862. At 10 A. M. attended court martial. Robert Reed 
lost his gun on expedition. Commenced boarding ourselves; supper the first meal. The day 
very warm and beautiful. 

Jan. 29. — Morning warm and pleasant. Attended court martial all day. Wife went to 
Edenton, N. C, got back at dark. Felt dull and low spirited all day. The weather was 
very warm. Nothing worthy of note today. 

Jan. 30. — Morning beautiful ; attended court martial in the forenoon. Got my ord- 
nance returns ready and mailed them in the afternoon. They were for the year 1862. Paid 
Dill $50 cash for helping to make them out. Wife came to quarters in the afternoon. 

Jan. 31. — Morning hea\'7 and misty, threatening rain ; the day cool. Dr. Frick and 
lady, myself and lady, Col. Lehmann, Col. Maxwell, and many others at a sumptuous dinner 



316 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

at the officers mess of the 103rd Regiment. Everything pulled off pleasantly. Nothing 
more of importance today; wife and I going to Hooker's. 

Jan. 28, 1864, Capt. Mackey turned in for the use of Mackey, Lieut. McCall and ladies : 
One pound coffee, 40 cents; one pound sugar, 12 cents; one can of peaches, $1.50; one can 
of apple sauce, 50 cents ; one can of dewberry jam, 50 cents ; three pounds butter, $1.05 ; tea, 
30 cents; pickles and ketchup, 70 cents. Feb. 27, fresh butter, $1.60. 

Feb. 1. — Morning still, dull and hazy. Came to quarters early. Made out my monthly 
return of clothing, camp and garrison equipage and mailed it. Overhauled all my papers 
and got them in a shape to take away. Wife went out carriage riding with Col. Maxwell. 
The day rather pleasant. 

Feb. 2. — Morning still, dull and hazy. Came to quarters early. Lieut. Kelly went 
to Edenton. Lieut. Burns went on picket. Wife came to quarters about 10 A. M. She and 
I went to Dr. Frick, then to the hospital to see the sick in company with the doctor and 
lady; then walked round town. In the afternoon had a pleasant drive with Col. Maxwell's 
horse and buggy. The day very pleasant. 

Feb. 3. — Morning cold and windy. Came to quarters ; great excitement in camp. A 
dispatch came from New Bern for re-enforcements, as that place was attacked by the 
enemy. 15th Connecticut went. Monthly inspection at 3 P. M. Wife much excited as well 
as every other person. The day cold and windy. 

Feb. 4. — Morning rather pleasant. The day raw and windy. Came to quarters early; 
stayed in quarters pretty much all day. Considerable excitement as to the threatened rebel 
attack. Received an order from the Colonel to draw arms and ammunition. Also the 
papers of the veterans to have them signed. 

Feb. 5. — Morning pleasant; attended guard mount as general officer of the day. Made 
the rounds twice during the day ; visited every post and advanced them at dark ; also in- 
creased the number of posts. Got information that there were no rebels within ten miles of 
Plymouth, but that they had blockaded the road some fifteen miles from town on the 
Washington road. 

Feb. 6. — Got up at 2 A. M. and made my rounds ; found everything quiet on the picket 
line. Was relieved by Col. Beach of the 16th Conn. Regt. The day was very pleasant. Had 
a pleasant walk with wife and other ladies in the afternoon. Had visitors in the evening. 

Feb. 7. — Sabbath morning very pleasant. Came to quarters early ; held Sabbath morn- 
ing inspection. Received a letter from Laura; all well at home. Wife came to quarters. 
Stayed all day with me. Went to church in the evening to hear the chaplain of the 101st 
Regt. V. P. Heard an excellent sermon. Text : Rev. fifth chapter, ninth verse. 

Feb. 8. — Morning very pleasant. Came to quarters at 9 A. M. Chaplain of 103rd 
P. V. called to see me. Stayed some time. Lieut. Burns on picket today; dress parade as 
usual. Wife and Mrs. McCall visited Mrs. Stoke. Sent for me to take tea and spend the 
evening. Dr. Frick and lady came in in the evening. Had a very pleasant time ; all quiet. 

Feb. 9. — Morning pleasant as usual. Came to quarters early. Wife came at 10 A. M. 
In the afternoon, Mrs. McCall, wife and I went shopping. Paid $16.65 for a dress and pair 
of shoes for wife. Called on Col. Lehmann and Dr. Frick ; neither at home. Went home 
with Mr. Crunce in the evening. 

Feb. 10. — Morning rather cool, but dry and sun shining. Came to quarters early. Re- 
ceived a letter from son Charles ; they were well. Wife at Mrs. Stoke"s all day making 
dress. Paid $10 to Lieut. McCall on boarding; 90 cents for one pair stockings for wife and 
shaving for myself. Sent Co. savings for July, '63, to New Bern to get the money by Mr. 
Howe, Sutler of the 85th N. Y. Had visitors in the evening. 

Feb. 11. — Morning frosty and clear. The day very pleasant. Came to quarters at 
9 A. M. Then went to see them firing a two-hundred pounder; then to dinner. In the 
afternoon went in the Dolly up to Fort Gray and saw where the 200-lb. shell burst. Tore 
up the ground wonderfully at a distance of two miles. Received a letter from Laura, and 
wrote one to her, and one to Charles ; all quiet. 

Feb. 12. — Morning very pleasant and the day beautiful. I was post officer of the day. 
Made my rounds, found everything in pretty good order. Nothing more of importance today. 

Feb. 13. — Morning very beautiful and warm ; attended guard mount. Was relieved 
by captain of Conn. Regt. (16th). The day very pleasant. This afternoon received a letter 
from H. A. Thompson. Bought two papers of "-he 10th inst. Wife's trunk all safe in 
Harrishurg. Wrote to J. B. Finlay, and to A. Breyers, on important business to me. 

Feb. 14. — Morning pleasant. Attended to Sabbath morning inspection. Wife came to 
quarters ; she and I went to church. Came back to quarters ; went to the officers mess and 
ate dinner; stayed some time at Capt. Cratty's ; held dress parade about 3 o'clock P. M. 
Then went home; wife got supper, then went to church. The seats were all taken and we 
came back. 

Feb. 15. — Morning dull and heavy. Came to quarters. Made out inventory, and final 
statement of Alex Reed, and mailed it. Commenced raining about 1 P. M. Stayed all 
afternoon in quarters. Wife at Dr. Prick's. Still raining at night. Appearance of a cold 
wet spell. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 317 

Feb. 16. — Morning cool and clear. Came to quarters; stayed all forenoon. Wife came 
to quarters and stayed the afternoon. Gen. Peck came to town today. Left again today. I 
wrote letter to H. A. Thompson. Wife wrote to Laura and to Chas. Campbell; the day 
cool and v/indy. 

Feb. 17. — Morning cold and frosty. Came to quarters early and stayed in pretty much 
all day ; drew clothing for the men. Wife came to quarters and stayed with me most of the 
afternoon. Received a letter from Major Harbert, Paymaster at New Bern, N. C. The 
day cool and windy. 

Feb. 18. — Morning very cold. Heavy frost. Came to quarters early. Issued clothing 
to the men. Got the No. 52 rolls signed. Col. Maxwell and Capt. Cratty took tea with 
us this evening. The day cool. Commenced snowing about 9 P. M. Nothing more of 
importance. 

Feb. 19. — Morning cold and the ground covered with snow. Slept late. Did not get to 
quarters until 12 M. Received from New Bern, N. C, by the hand of Mr. Howe, 85th N. 
Y. Sutler, $51.70 (company savings) for the boys. First Sergt. Cook was appointed by the 
boys to take the money and distribute it, to each man $1.36. 

Feb. 20. — Morning very cold. The ground still covered with snow. The day very 
pleasant. Went to guard mount at 9 A. M. Am post officer of the day. Came to quarters 
and had a long talk with a refugee from near Weldon, N. C. Rather an intelligent man. 

Feb. 21. — Sabbath morning; rather pleasant. Came off as post officer of the day. Was 
not on inspection. Stayed at home and read two sermons by Rev. Pitts of Tennessee. In 
the evening wife and I attended dress parade. Intended going to church, but was disap- 
pointed by Stoke's coming for supper. 

Feb. 22. — Morning pleasant ; snow all off the ground. Came to quarters early, then 
wife and I went to the general parade ground to hear an oration delivered by the chaplain of 
the 101st Pa. Regt. In the afternoon went to the jail and other places ; in the evening went 
to the church. Chaplain of 16th Regt. delivered an address, followed by Father Morris. 
Munsac was in attendance. 

Feb. 23. — Morning very pleasant and warm. Made statement for clothing for camp; 
had the boys police the camp well. Played ball in the afternoon. Got shaved, hair-cut and 
shampooed ; cost 65 cents. Went to Dr. Frick for supper. We stayed there until about 
10 P. M. There was a ball at Hooker's. Officers and N. C. girls in attendance. 

Feb. 24. — Morning very pleasant. Came to quarters and did some writing and then 
went to dinner ; had Col. Lehmann to dine with us. Played ball in the afternoon. Wife 
came to quarters. Came back after supper. Received notice that the 1st, 2d, and 3d quar- 
ters of ordnance returns for 1862 were correct, 4th quarter not. Received a letter from son 
Charles. 

Feb. 25. — Morning pleasant. Came to quarters and worked at my clothing book until 
noon, ate dinner and then went to parade ground and played ball until dress parade. Then 
went to Lieut. Stoke's and ate supper; then wife and I came to quarters; wrote until near 
10 P. M. Received a letter from Wm. Sheet's wife concerning him. 

Feb. 26. — Morning very beautiful. Came to quarters early and worked all day at 
muster out rolls and muster in rolls of the veteran volunteers. Had the company of 
veterans mustered out and in to date from Feb. 27, '64. Made out their enlistment papers, etc. 

Feb. 27. — Morning pleasant; got up early. Came to quarters and wrote all day at 
making out discharges for veteran volunteers and at muster in rolls ; did without supper. 
Wrote until very late at night. 

Feb. 28. — Sabbath morning beautiful and warm. I am post officer of the day. Came 
to quarters and commanded the regiment for inspection. Wife and I went to guard mount. 
The regiment went on picket today. We then came back to quarters, wrote all day at rolls 
and sent a list of the veterans to the company they belong to. Received a letter from A. 
Myers and one from E. Widel. 

Feb. 29. — Morning still warm and beautiful. Came to quarters early ; worked hard at 
rolls until 2 o'clock P. M. Had sixteen rolls to make out, including muster out and muster 
in rolls, besides a great deal of other writing for the veterans. Wife came to quarters and 
stayed with me all day; at 2 P. M. the regiment was formed in line for inspection and muster 
for pay by Col. Fardella. I was in command; the regiment was mustered by companies at 
my quarters. All went nicely. 

March 1. — Morning rather pleasant. Came to quarters early. Worked at rolls and 
monthly returns. Received a letter from Laura stating that Alexander was very sick. Made 
wife and I feel very badly. Received one from A. Myers, from Washington, D. C. Lieut. 
Kelly went on expedition. Wife stayed in quarters all day with me. 

March 2. — Morning rather cool. Came to quarters early and finished my monthly re- 
turn of clothing, camp and garrison equipage. Wrote a letter of explanation to second 
auditor, E. F. French, concerning ordnance; to sons in 11th cavalry, and to daughter Laura. 
Finished up my writing today for the month of February. Wife and I spent the evening 
with Col. Maxwell. 

March 3. — Morning cool and windy. Came to quarters late. Got horse and buggy 



318 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

from Col. Maxwell and took wife out driving in the afternoon. Played ball. Side I was on 
won. Attended dress parade. Wife and I ate supper at the mess and went to Col. Max- 
well's after dark. 

March 4. — Morning cool ; came to quarters late. Stayed in but a short time. Got Col. 
Maxwell's horse and buggy and wife took a drive to see artillery drill. In the afternoon 
played ball. Received verbal notice that Benjamin Irwin died at Beaufort, N. C. Dr. Frick 
and lady spent the evening with us. 

March 5. — Morning pleasant and warm. Wife and I called on Col. Lehmann and 
Gen. Wessells, in company with Mrs. Frick. Got a permit to accompany wife as fat as 
Coinjock. Procured passes and transportation for wife and Mrs. McCall to Norfolk; 
packed up my trunk so that it will be ready for a move. Gave John Spruce two dollars. 

March'6. — Morning pleasant but windy. Got on the General Berry at 10 A. M. Wife 
left for home. Got to Roanoke Island at dark. Stayed at Woodruff's all night. Felt very 
badly; prospect of going to the canal rather dull. Saw the 101st Regt. P. V., Col. Taylor in 
command. 

March 7. Roanoke Island, N. C. — Morning pleasant. Received orders from Gen. Peck 
by the New Bern boat that no boats should go through the canal. Stayed all day on the 
island. Wife and I took a walk over part of the island. Stayed all night at the City Hotel; 
accommodations pretty good ; wife gathered shells. 

March 8. — Morning warm but raining; waited until the New Bern boat came up; con- 
cluded to come back to Plymouth, N. C. Got on board the Lancer and arrived at Plymouth 
at 9 P. M., cost of trip for wife and I, $16.20. Stayed in my quarters all night. Gave dis- 
patch to Lieut. Beegle for Gen. Wessels. 

March 9, Plymouth, N. C. — Morning pleasant. Slept late. Prepared for keeping 
house. Made out two descriptive lists; sent Hallman away; Sergt. Walters went with him. 
Made out inventory and final statements for B. Irwin, deceased. 

March 10. — Morning cloudy, commenced raining at 9 A. M. and rained all day. Wrote 
a letter to B. J. Reed and one to Jas. Irwin, in Forest county. Made out duplicate copies 
of inventory and final statements of B. Irwin (deceased). Sent one to B. J. Reed, Qarion, 
and one to the colonel of the 103rd regiment. The day warm and refreshing. 

March 11. — Morning warm and cloudy. Commenced raining about 10_ A. M. and 
rained very hard. I was general officer of the day and was out in all the rain ; got very 
wet. Dr. Frick and lady came to quarters and spent the evening with us. Played checkers 
for amusement; made my rounds twice during the day and once during the night. 

March 12. — Morning warm and pleasant ; attended guard mount. Was relieved by Col. 
Fardella, 85th N. Y. ; stayed in quarters all forenoon with wife. ' Several ladies called on 
Mrs. Mackey. Dr. Palmer called. He and I went to prepare to send our ladies home. Mrs. 
Palmer goes in the morning, but wife does not. 

March 13. — Morning very pleasant. Had company inspection at 8 :30 A. M. ; attended 
church at 11 A. M. Father Morris preached; words of his text were "Quench not the 
spirit ;" good sermon. Was detained from going to church in the evening on account of 
McCall and lady coming to visit us and take supper. 

March 14. — Morning pleasant, but cool ; after breakfast went to see E. Slocum at 
hospital, he being very sick. Worked at quarterly return of ordnance. Played ball in the 
afternoon for two hours. Stayed in quarters with wife; worked at my returns. The day 
and night very pleasant. 

March 15.— Morning cool but pleasant. Lieut. Burns went on picket. Lieut. Geo. W. 
Kelly came off. Worked some at our returns ; drew clothing and issued to the men. Lieut. 
Kelly was thrown from a horse and badly hurt. Stayed in quarters all evening. 

March 16. — Morning pleasant; ground covered with snow. Stayed in quarters all day; 
worked at clothing book; drew and issued more clothing. Had several visitors. Dr. Frick 
came in. Made out discharge papers for Hallman. All of the Connecticut troops that were 
here left for New Bern, N. C, on the steamer Lancer. Prospect rather dull for us getting 
home soon. 

March 17. — Morning still cool. Snow pretty much all gone. Worked at my Co. books 
until noon. Then went to Lieut. Stokers for dinner. In afternoon played ball until dress 
parade. Lieut. Burns went on expedition after corn and returned in the afternoon. Went 
at night to hear chaplain of the 101st P. V. lecture; subject, "Signs of the Times." Not well 
today. 

March 18.. — Morning pleasant; attended guard mount at 9 A. M. as post officer of 
the day. Relieved Capt. Cratty; made my rounds as usual. Nothing of importance today. 
Wife and I visited Mrs. Freeman in the evening; also Dr. Frick. 

March 19. — Morning pleasant. Attended guard mount ; was relieved by Capt. Stark- 
wether of the 85th N. Y. Came back to quarters. Four of my men were arrested for steal- 
ing bacon from a colored woman. Bad fellows they. Wife expected to go home in the 
morning. I expected to accompany her as far as Coinjock. Rained some this evening; 
weather warm. 

March 20. — Morning pleasant. Got up pretty early and had everything ready to leave 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 319 

on the Gen. Berry with wife, Mrs. McCall and Mrs. Roberts, for home. Had a very pleasant 
trip, landed at Roanoke about sundown. Met many with whom I was acquainted. Stopped 
with the host of the Roanoke Hotel. 

March 21, Roanoke Island, N. C— Morning stormy. Left Roanoke with wife at 12 M. 
on Gen. Berry for Coinjock; arrived there at dark; got a place for wife and two other 
ladies to stay. Had to leave her and go back on the Berry. Felt very badly at parting and 
forgot to give wife her transportation. Fear they must pay it. 

March 22.--Morning very stormy. Got off the Berry at daylight, and came to Roanoke 
Hotel, and remained all day. The day was tremendously stormy, and I felt very lonely, 
although there was plenty of company. Played several games of checkers to pass away 
time. Thought the house would blow down during the night. 

March 23.— Morning still stormy. Got on the Berry at the wharf, went to the Charles- 
ton and changed freight and passengers. Then started up to the lighthouse to release the 
Thos. Collyer; found her tight aground. Took off the 16th Conn. Regt., and proceeded 
with them to Plymouth, N. C, arrived there at 9 P. M., found all quiet, and went to quarters. 
Felt rather unhappy all day. 

March 24, PljTnouth, N. C. — Morning very cold. Commenced boarding at the officers 
mess again. Felt much under the weather all day. Received a letter from Charles and 
Edwin and one from Sergt. Walters. Wrote to wife and to son at Williamsburgh, Va. The 
day raw and cold, and no wood. 

March 25. — Morning cool and cloud}'. I went on as post officer of the day, relieving 
Capt. Cratty; made my rounds in the usual way. Played several games of checkers. Felt 
very lonely and low spirited. There was battalion drill today. Got very stormy in the even- 
ing. Nothing more of importance today. 

March 26. — Morning pleasant but cool. Attended guard mount ; was relieved as post 
officer of the day by Capt. Starkwether, 85th Regt. N. Y. V. Received of Capt. Hall $17.69, 
Co. savings for the month of February; bought gloves and blackening for the men to the 
amount of $14.55. Plaj'ed ball in the afternoon ; wrote a letter to wife and mailed it in the 
evening. The night, dark and stormy. 

March 27. — Sabbath morning. Clear and cold. Attended inspection. Men made a 
good appearance; had their things in good order. Read the regulations to them this morn- 
ing. R. Dunn escaped from the guard house. I went to church at 11 A. M. Considerable 
fear of an attack todaj'. Went to church in the evening but could not get in. 

March 28. — Morning pleasant. Worked at monthly returns of camp and garrison 
equipage until 10 A. M. Then company drill one hour, then worked again at returns ; bat- 
talion drill at 3_ P. M. ; dress parade at 5 P. M. Wrote a letter for W. W. Sheets. Nothing 
more today of importance. 

March 29. — Morning cool and cloudy. Commenced raining about 9 A. M. ; cleared off 
again. Had Co. drill from 10 to 11 A. M. ; finished my monthly returns of clothing, camp 
and garrison eauipage. Received a letter from wife and one from daughter Laura. I paid 
John Spruel $2 cash, and bought one pound of candles. Commenced raining very hard at 
3 P. M. ; rained hard until dark. 

March 30. — Morning cool and drizzling rain. Finished making out ordnance returns 
for the first quarter of 1864. Paymaster came but will not pay the officers of the brigade. 
This is hard, for there is now due us five months' pay. 

March 31. — Morning clear but cool. Mailed my monthly and quarterly returns. Made 
out niy monthly returns to regimental headquarters ; also quarterly return of deceased 
soldiers. Paymaster is here. Veteran enlistment papers must be made over, and one muster 
in roll ; all the fault of the mustering officer. Paid to Lieut. Chambers $3 on boarding ; also 
50 cents for tobacco. Lieut. Burns drilled the company today. The day, dry and pleasant. 
Attended dress parade at 5 P. M. March has been a cold and stormy month and one in 
which I have felt very badly most of the time. Besides feeling much worried in mind. Hope 
and pray this cruel war will soon end and that something may turn up to my advantage in 
future better than the past. Still I am glad it is no worse. 

April 1, 1864. — Morning cool and cloudy. Went on duty as post officer of the day. 
Relieved Capt. Sheafer of the 101st P. V. Made one round. Partly worked at veteran 
volunteer muster in and muster out rolls, so the boys can get their pay. Commenced rain- 
ing about 3 P. M. Got quite cold. Rained hard after dark. Got some enlistment papers 
printed, cost $2. 

April 2. — Morning cold and raining. Came off duty as post officer of the day. Got all 
my veteran papers made out. Hope I will have no more trouble with them. The men will 
be paid on Monday. Received one letter from B. J. Reed, Garion, and from H. A. Thomp- 
son, Harrisburg, informing me of my wife's safe arrival there. Rained and stormed all 
day, and no wood. 

April 3. — Sabbath morning. Cool and cloudy. Wrote three letters, one to wife, one to 
B. J. Reed and one to H. A. Thompson and sent them with Lieut. Kelly, as he is going on 
recruiting service. I was not on morning inspection. Spent a gloomy Sabbath. Went to 
church in the evening. 



320 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

April 4. — Morning cold and cloudy. Took veteran rolls to paymaster. Promised to 
pay the men today, but did not. We are treated very badly. I remained in quarters all 
day. As usual feel very unhappy; would like to be home with my family. The day is cold 
and wet. Raining pretty hard tonight. 

April 5. — Morning cool and raining. Took the veterans to Col. Clark's headquarters 
(85th N. Y.) and had them paid their old and new bounty, and monthly pay up to the 27th 
of February, 1864, and one month's pay in advance. Lieut. Burns went to Edenton and 
returned same day. I stayed in quarters all day. Felt very lonely. It rained and stormed 
all day. 

April 6. — Morning still cool and stormy. Had monthly inspection at 11 A. M. Re- 
ceived $10 from Lieut. Fluke that I loaned him in September, 1863. Paid $10 on boarding 
and $6 to servant, and $2 for printing blanks. Stayed in quarters pretty much all day. Feel 
very anxious to get home. Day stormy. 

April 7. — Morning clear and pleasant, the rain over for the present. Received this 
morning a letter from wife, written at Kittanning and one from son Charles. Wrote and 
mailed one to Charles. There was brigade drill today, but I, feeling very ill, was excused 
by the surgeon. Felt very unhappy and very lonely. The day pleasant. 

April 8. — Morning cool, but clear and pleasant. Felt quite ill. Excused from duty as 
post officer of the day. Relieving Capt. Sheafer of the 101st P. V. Made my rounds once on 
foot. Made them in the afternoon on horse back. Attended brigade drill. Called to see 
Julia Stoke. Felt considerably better during the day. Hope all is well at home. 

April 9. — Morning raining. Was relieved as post officer of the day by one of the 
Connecticut captains. Stayed in quarters pretty much all day. Received a letter from wife. 
Wrote her a long one. I enclosed in it $60. Borrowed $80 from Samuel Rupert. It is now 
near midnight. Raining hard and has been all evening. 

April 10.— Morning very pleasant after a hard night's rain. Had Sabbath morning in- 
spection at 9 A. M. Read the army regulations and some orders to the men. Went to church 
at 11 A. M. Heard a good sermon preached by the chaplain of 16th Conn. Text, Hebrews 
11 : 16. Then came to quarters and remained all day. Felt very lonely and discontented. 
The day pleasant. 

April 11. — Morning pleasant and clear. I am feeling ill. Was marked oft duty by the 
surgeon. Stayed in quarters all day. Made out requisitions for boards to fix Co. quarters 
and build cook house. Invoiced one condemned gun to Lieut. McCall, acting ordnance officer, 
and arranged some of my Co. papers. Felt very much under the weather. 

April 12.— Morning pleasant. Feel some better today. Stayed in quarters pretty much 
all day. Received a letter from Chas. and Edwin ; both well. Wrote to them and to wife. 
Felt much disappointed at not getting one from wife ; rained considerable during the day. 

April 13. — Morning pleasant. Still feel unwell and taking medicine ; does not appear 
to help me. Do not know what to do with myself. Feel discouraged. Wrote letter to sons 
John and Alexander, and one to sister Susan. I did nothing all day but mope around the 
quarters. I would give anything I possess to be at home with my family. 

April 14. Morning very pleasant. Although marked off duty, I drilled the company, 

as Lieut. Burns was on provost duty. Drilled for one hour. Battalion and brigade drill at 
3 P. M. i was only a looker on. Stayed in quarters pretty much all day. Feel badly tonight; 
head aches. One of the Connecticut officer's tents burnt down at 10 P. M. The day was very 
pleasant; all quiet yet. , ,,, , _ ^ . , 

April 15. — Morning cool and cloudy. Went to ordnance office. Got receipt for one 
gun (unserviceable) also two blank requisitions. Came back to quarters where I remained 
all day. Feel some better today. Received a letter from Jas. Irwin in Forest Co., Pa., but 
none from wife. Rained some today. , , „ c- 

April 16. — Morning cool and cloudy. I am feehng rather dull. Stayed m quarters pretty 
much all day. Got $120 from Daniel Huddleson. Paid Lieut. Spence $50 and A. Krebs $70, 
that I had borrowed from them. Looked anxiously forward for a letter from wife, but was 
disappointed. Wrote one to her. Rained some today. All quiet here yet. 

April 17. Morning pleasant. Being marked off duty did not go on Sabbath morning 

inspection. Wrote a letter to Helmbold Chemist. Paid for medicine. Sent it and $5, and 
a letter to wife with Capt. Dill. Feeling dull and lonesome. Stayed in quarters until 4 
P M when the Rebs made an attack on us. Heavy firing. Kept up until 8 P. M. At 10 
P M I lay down. Slept until 3 A. M., when we formed line at breast works. 

April 18.— Got up at 3 A. M. At 5 A. M. the ball opened again. Constant firing on 
the picket line. Rebs made an assault on Fort Gray. Bombshell sunk at sundown. Our 
pickets were driven in. Eighteen pieces opened on us a brisk fire for two hours. We 
silenced them. All quiet balance of night. 

April 19, 1864, Plymouth, N. C— Morning cool and windy. Rebel ram came down at 
3 AM. After a short fight sunk the Southfield. Miama escaped. Loss of life not known. 
After daylight went to work and built bomb proofs. Fort Wessells taken at daylight. Capt. 
Chapin killed. Cannonading going on all day. The loss on our side very light. There was 
but little firimr from dark until 12 P. M. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY . 321 

April 20. — At 1 A. M. the enemy crossed at the bridge on the Columbia road and 
planted their artillery and commenced shelling. Then crossed their infantry and com- 
menced advancing at 3 A. M. They were repulsed at daylight. We fought desperately, but 
were overpowered by numbers. Gen. Wessells surrendered at 11 A. M. All we had but what 
was on our backs fell into the enemy's hands. They marcned us out one mile from town 
and encamped us on the ground, some having blankets ; some none. 

April 21, 1864, one mile from Plymouth, N. C— Being very cold, got up from my 
ground bed before day and started to build a fire to get warm by. At 8 A. M. drew rations 
from the rebels that they captured with us. Got for four days what we gave our men for 
one. Col. Tate's regiment guarded us. At 9 A. M. we were all searched. At 2 P. M. took 
up our march, guarded by 35th N. C. Regt., Col. Jones. Marched 16 miles and encamped for 
the night. Had a very hard march. 

April 22, 1864, four miles from Jamesville, N. C— Felt well, but some sore, not being 
used to marching; got to Williamston, N. C, by 12 M. Rested one hour and then marched 
six miles and camped in a nice grassy field. Marched today sixteen miles ; was very tired. 
Many of our poor men were nearly done out. There were over 2,000 of us. We were 
guarded by two pieces in front, a regiment on each side, and one brigade in rear. It seemed 
hard to be deprived of our liberty. 

April 23, 1864, fifty miles from Hamilton, N. C— Got up from the ground pretty early. 
Ate our bite of grub and again started on our way. Arrived at Hamilton, N. C, at 11 A. M. 
Were marched into a large yard all worn down, many hardly able to walk with blistered 
feet. We had to remain there in the sun all day and at night lay down on the sand with one 
blanket over us. A hard life, this. 

April 24. 1864, Hamilton, N. C— Sabbath morning after getting up, washed ourselves, 
and ate our little bite, and at 11 A. M. took up our march for Tarboro, N. C, guarded by 
the Holcomb Legion alone ; Lieut. Col. Crawley commanded. Marched twelve miles, and 
again encamped for the night in a pine woods. Rained some during the night. 

April 25. — Got up early, after eating a few hard tack, and resumed our march. Got 
to near Tarboro between 11 a. m. and 12 m. Encamped near the bridge on the banks of the 
Tar river and in sight of town. Drew a meat ration at dark. Had hard living. Boys paid 
fabulous prices for a little bite to eat, fearing that their money would be taken from them. 
On Sabbath I wrote a letter to wife. Lieut. Johnson said that he would have it sent. 

April 26, 1864, in sight of Tarboro, N. C— Got up pretty early and had a little bite 
to eat. Then drew a ration of corn cake such as we would not eat at our own loved 
homes. At 11 A. M. we marched through the town and were put on poor, filthy old cars 
for Charleston, S. C, guarded by the 17th S. C. Regt. Arrived at Goldsboro, N. C, at sun 
down. Left at dark and traveled by rail all night. The country swampy and thinly settled. 
Had a hard night of it. 

April 27, 1864, Wilmington, N. C— Arrived here at daylight and marched down to 
depot. Drew rations, then crossed Cape Fear river. Saw several blockade runners. Saw 
a large amount of cotton and corn. Saw but little of the city. Judge it to be a nice place. 
Re-entered a filthy old car and proceeded for Charleston. We arrived at 10 p. m. at Flor- 
ence, S. C, and changed cars. Remained until morning. 

April 28, Florence, S. C— Left again for Charleston, S. C, at 8 A. M. where we 
arrived about midnight. Changed cars and remained in them until 8 A. M. Passed many 
rebel fortifications today. Crossed the Pedee, Santee and Savannah rivers today. Saw some 
rice plantations. The country is generally swampy and not fit for farming purposes. Would 
rather be at home than in prison. 

April 29, Charleston, S. C— Left Charleston at 3 A. M. Could see none of the city, 
being shut up in close cars. Arrived at Savannah, Ga., at about 3 P. M. I gave two dollars 
to a black man to get me something to eat. He brought it. The officers would not let him 
give it to me so I lost my money. Left Savannah at 5 P. M. in close cars and very much 
crowded and traveled all night. 

April 30, near Grisswold, Ga.— Passed through Macon and several other towns today. 
Arrived at Andersonville at about 3 P. M. and got off the miserable old cars. Our poor 
boys were put into the stockade. The officers put into a large church. Took a good bath, 
felt well, but much exhausted. Rested well through the night. 

May 1, Andersonville, Ga. — Sabbath morning very pleasant. Got up feeling very well 
considering the circumstances we are placed in. Slept in a church all night. The guard stole 
my blouse. Had a sermon preached by the chaplain of the 16th Conn. Regiment at 8 A. M. 
Received two days' rations at 9 A. M. and then left for Macon, Ga., where we arrived at 5 
P. M.— Rained some today. In camp for the night in Camp Oglethorpe. Got new tents. 

May 2, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant and feeling unwell with diarrhea. This camp 
is commanded by Gen. Howell Cobb. Paid $20 Confederate scrip for six little loaves of bread, 
and six ginger cakes. Officers trading greenbacks for Confederate scrip at one for four 
and later $1 for $5 and some $1 for $10. We have a good supply of provisions for two days, 
but cost big. We all employ ourselves very well, considering our situation. 

May 3, 1864, Macon, Ga. — Morning very cool. Officers all pretty well. Wrote a few 



322 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

lines to my wife. Considerable trading going on with the citizens. Officers pay big prices. 
Several horse races in camp today. Capt. Morrow and 27 other officers (prisoners) came 
into camp. We are living well but paying big prices. 

May 4. — Got up at 2 A. M. Could not sleep for the cold and remained up until 9 
A.M. when I lay down and slept until 12 M. Officers reported more quiet today but enjoyed 
themselves by jumping, etc. I feel very unwell tonight. Hope to be better in the morning. 
We have to lie on the ground. 

Ma-"- 5. — Got up after daylight feeling some better. Ate a hearty breakfast, dinner 
and supper. Nothing of importance transpiring today. Spent five dollars Confederate scrip 
for tobacco and postage stamps. The day very warm, I slept most of the day. Two years 
ago today we were at the battle of Williamsburg, Va., where we had a hard night after the 
battle. 

May 6. — Morning pleasant. Felt pretty well today. A large amount of property burnt 
up in Macon today. Had a big time with the guard. They went to the fire, got whiskey and 
a number of them got drunk. Their officers used them roughly. 

May 7, 1864, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant. Day very warm and dry. There has 
been but little rain for five or six weeks. Have felt pretty well today in health, but feel 
very anxious to hear from my family. Nothing of importance transpiring today. Only one 
more prisoner, a Lt. of the 103d Illinois Regt. Vol., came into camp. 

May 8. — Sabbath morning, pleasant and warm. Hearing the bells ringing in the city 
made me feel solemn. I wish that I could accompany my dear family to the house of prayer 
as in former days. We had no preaching today, although a chaplain with us. I spent the day 
in reading my bible and singing. Many ladies came to look at us Yankees today. 

May 9 — Morning very pleasant. Had preaching last night at dark, text 27th c, 13th 
verse, Isaiah. Nothing of much importance today, only the moving of our tents to a more 
pleasant place. Received rations today. Got 1 lb. meat for four days, and sour corn bread. 

May 10, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant. Threatening rain. Gave $20 greenbacks for 
$60 Confederate money. Was swindled in the trade, only got $3 for $1, on account of the 
officers of the guard not permitting the boy to come into our inclosure. 

May 11. — Commenced raining at about 3 A. M. Our tent leaked very badly. Rained 
all day more or less. Got very cold in the evening. A Lt. of the 73d Penn. Vols., who was 
taken prisoner near Dalton, Ga., on the 8th inst., came into camp. He gave us some good 
news concerning affairs in the front. 

May 12. — Morning very cool. The rain over for the present. I took the chills and 
fever at 3 P. M. Lasted pretty much all night. Rained some during the night. 

May 13. — Morning cloudy and cool. I have the backache, headache and feel very bad 
generally. Col. Lagrange and eight line officers came in as prisoners. The colonel gave us 
a great deal of good news from Dalton. He thinks there is no doubt of the success of our 
cause. God grant they may be. I bought a shirt today. Paid $7 in Confederate money. 
Washed and put on clean clothes. 

May 14, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant. I am feeling rather badly. Took a dose of 
quinine. Took a chill at 12 and had a very hard shake. Lasted about three hours. Then 
had a hard fever until dark. Got very sick at my stomach. Threw up considerable. After 
which I felt some better, but had a dreadful pain in my head and back. Rested badly all 
night. 

May 15. — Sabbath morning pleasant. I am feeling some better. Would give all I 
possess on earth to be with my family this Sabbath morning. Had chicken soup three times 
today. At 3 P. M. Chaplain White, one captain and one lieutenant of the 6th R. I. Heavy 
Artillery came in as prisoners. They were captured at Croatan Station, N. C. 

May 16. — Morning hazy and threatening rain. I feel not very well as this is my day 
for another shake, but by repeated doses of quinine it was kept off. The news today is very 
cheering to us, although the enemy claims victory at all points. Sold a watch today for $200 
in Confederate money. Chaplain White tented with us today. I feel much better this 
evening. 

May 17. — Morning pleasant. Got up at 6 A. M. I washed the dishes this morning, 
consisting of two plates, two old broken knifes and forks, one spoon and four tin cups, all 
this for six of us. 823 Yankee officers, prisoners of war came in this morning from Danville 
or Richmond, and elsewhere. We were moved into prison today and have made a worse 
change, having no shelter. Gen. Wessells and staff were among the prisoners that came in. 

May 18. — Morning pleasant. Got up, policed our quarters, then at breakfast, then roll 
call. Six new prisoners came in, one of the 85th Pa. Vol., Capt. John EL Michener ; he was 
taken at Charleston, S. C. Met with Lt. Paxton of Washington Co., Pa., of Two Mile run 
notoriety, and to whom I had sold a horse power. 

May 19, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant. I feel well today. One or two new prisoners 
came in. Heard from the boys at Andersonville. Our boys are all pretty well. There have 
been over eleven hundred deaths in that pen since March. Had preaching at sundown by 
Chaplain Dickson of the 16th Conn. Vols. Text 3rd chap. St. John and 16th verse. I led 
the. singing. There was good attention. The day warm, evening very pleasant. All quiet. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 323 

May 20. — Morning pleasant. Feel very well in body, but ver^^ uneasy in mind about 
my family. One month today since our capture. Our prison very' dusty and dirty, as we 
cannot get our dirt, that we swept up, hauled out, there being but one cart for the whole 
camp. Nothmg new today. The weather warm and dry. 

May 21.— Morning pleasant. Got up at 5 A. M. Shaved this morning, policed our 
quarters, then read my bible. Heard the Confederate paper contradicted all its former state- 
ments. Bought today two poor little heads of cabbage, hi doz. radishes, and ten little beets 
cost ten dollars. 

May 22, Prison at Macon, Ga. — Morning again pleasant. Got up early, policed our 
quarters, then read seven chapters in my bible. One major and one Lt., 4th Michigan Cav- 
alry, from Sherman's army, came into prison. They were captured on the 19th. They bring 
good news from the front. Chaplain White of the 5th R. I. Heavy Artillery preached from 
the 5th c. and 8th verse of Matthew. The captain in command of our camp requested that 
we should not pray for the President, but was unsuccessful ; I sang. 

May 23, Macon, Ga. — Morning still pleasant. After getting up, policed our quarters 
as usual, then read several chapters in my bible; played a few games of checkers to drive 
dull care away. The news received today from Sherman's army is cheering. Negroes re- 
port that women and children are coming in from Atlanta and that there is great excitement 
in Macon and that all the forces here were sent to the front. 

May 24. — Morning pleasant. 113 officers prisoners. Amongst whom is Gens. Seymour 
and Shaler, who came in this morning from Grant's arm5^ Died at 2 A. M., Lt. Wood of 
the 82d Ind. Vols., of chronic diarrhea. Chaplain White preached his funeral sermon. No 
one of our officers allowed to accompany the corpse to the grave. I sang. 

May 25. — Commenced raining at 2 A. M. We had rather a rough time, having no 
shelter worth anything. Morning clear and pleasant. Ten escaped officers, recaptured and 
brought in today, at 5 P. M. I reported to Gen. Wessels, as officer of the day. Instructions 
were to see that the camp was properly policed. Drew rations today. Meat partly rotten. 
Hard living for white men. 

May 26.— Morning pleasant, but threatening rain. I am still officer of the day but 
did nothmg. It rained quite hard for about one hour today. At roll call we had some fun 
with Capt. Cabb, our commandant, he being somewhat intoxicated. Chaplain Dickson of the 
16th Conn. Vols, preached tonight. Preached a good sermon. 

May 27.— Morning pleasant. We, the 101st and 103d P. V., built a shed that will pro- 
tect us some from the storm. Three officers captured from Sherman's army came in today. 
AIso_ four recaptured officers. They escaped on the way from Richmond. TTiey had got 
within sight of our gunboats near Fort Pulaski. 

May 28.— Morning very pleasant. Had quite a time at roll call. Capt. Cabb found 
a tunnel commenced in the quarters of squad eight, and threatened to shoot every man. He 
has artillery in position ready for action. Seven more officers came in today as prisoners. 
Their reports are very cheering to us. Washed my shirt, socks and towel. The first for me ' 
rather awkward work. ' 

May 29. — Morning pleasant, but cool. After the usual morning's work, I read several 
chapters in my bible, and wrote in my diary what I had neglected. At 11 A. M., Chaplain 
preached an excellent sermon. Text 11th ch. Hebrews and 17th verse. Preaching at night 
by Chaplain White. Two Surgeons from PljTnouth and two from Fla. (17th Conn.) came 
in. Quite a row in camp tonight. Some officers trying to escape. Cabb took out major of the 
16th Conn. Vols. 

• I. ^u- 3'^-~^0"^in€'. pleasant. Considerable excitement on account of the fuss last 
night. Thirty officers, prisoners from Grant's army, came in todav. I have felt very unwell, 
my bones all aching so badly that I could hardly stand. I formed the acquaintance of a Lt' 
Mackey from Ohio. 

May 31.— Morning still dry and warm. I feel very unwell, though some better than 
yesterday. Two years today we were in the battle of Fair Oaks. Many have been the 
dangers we have passed through since that day, and while many of mv men have been called 
from time to eternity, God has spared my life. The last six weeks ha's been the most event- 
ful of my life and now am a prisoner of war in the hands of the rebels, living on what would 
be fed to hogs in our own loved North, yet I have cause to rejoice that it is as well with me 
as it is. Seven officers and one chaplain from Sherman's army came in today. Capt Cabb 
has mounted on platforms twelve feet high 2 12-pounder field pieces to bear on us to pre- 
vent our breaking out. Capt. Cabb has treated us as no gentleman would. Took the major 
of the 16th Conn. Vols, out and put him in prison for no offense on his part. Took out a 
captain and bucked and gagged him for simply asking for his watch, or its value in money 
He had taken the watch to sell and kept it until the captain thought he was not going to give 
It up. He threw a brick at another officer. 

June 1, 1864, Prison at Macon, Ga.— Morning pleasant. Feel very unwell today. Had 
a chill in my legs ; arms and back ached, so that I could not rest in one position any length 
of time. Three more officers came in as prisoners. Rain ; a smart shower today Nothing 
more of importance. 



324 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

June 2. — Got up feeling much better than I did yesterday. After policing our own 
quarters I was detailed to police at the well. Fourteen officers from Grant's army came in 
today. Some of them had escaped from the cars and were recaptured. Blood hounds were 
put on their track and caught them after traveling some sixty miles. 

June 3. — Got up feeling very well. Morning pleasant. Policed quarters and ate 
breakfast after roll call. Saw some 500 of our prisoners from Grant's army going to Camp 
Sumter at 11 A. M. Took a chill, shook hard for two hours, and then a high fever until 
evening. 

June 4. — Got up early feeling some better. Got breakfast and v/ashed two shirts, one 
pair drawers, and two pair socks. Could not get them dried as it rained all day. At 12 M. 
felt very bad, thought I was going to have another shake. Got some boards, and fixed up 
some bunks and shelves for our squad, besides cooking. One man secreted himself under a 
wagon and got out, but was recaptured. 

June 5. — Sabbath morning, cloudy. I feel very well. After breakfast I read my bible 
and went to church at 11 A. M. When the sermon was about through I commenced shaking 
had a hard chill, and then a high fever until dark. Felt very badly all night. Slept but little. 
At dark some eight officers came into prison. 

June 6. — Got up feeling very badly ; bones aching in all parts of me. Had a bad dream 
in the after part of the night. At roll call sixty-one officers from Grant's army came in. 
Got some quinine pills and commenced taking them at dark. Felt much better in the evening. 

June 7. — Morning pleasant. Got up early, feeling very well. Got breakfast, as this 
is my day for cooking, then read my bible, got dinner, played some checkers, then got supper. 
This being my day for chills, I thank God I came off clear and feel quite well. This evening 
four officers came in from Sherman's army. 

June 8. — Morning pleasant. Got up feeling well. Hope I may continue so. Two 
officers from Butler's armv came in this morning. Loaned ten dollars to Lt. Mackey, 1st 
Lt., 16th U. S. Infantry (Frankfort, Ross County, Ohio). Lt. Hastings and Capt. Cratty 
did the cooking today; had nothing to cook but corn meal. 

June 9. — Got up feeling well. Morning pleasant. Quarter-Master McNary and Lieut. 
Burns do the cooking today. Everything going on as usual in camp. Received rations to- 
day. Rebels commenced sinking two wells for us today. The day dry and warm. 

June 10. — Got up feeling rather dull and stupid. Morning still pleasant. This is my 
day for cooking. Got breakfast at half after six A. M. At 3 P. M. fifty generals and field 
officers were taken out supposed to be exchanged. Great excitement in prison about it. 
Many are the conjectures as to what is to be done with them. Rained hard in the evening. 
Three gunboat officers came in last evening. 

June 11. — Morning cool and pleasant. I feel pretty well this morning. Hastings and 
Cratty cooked today. It has rained very hard most of the day. Two officers from Sherman's 
army came in today. Brought no news of importance. At 8 P. M. guard shot 2nd Lt. 
Gesman, 45th Regt. N. Y. Vols., wounding him mortally. 

June 12. — Sabbath morning cool and cloudy. Lt. Gesman died at 2 A. M. from the 
wound received last night. Everything looks sad and gloomy in consequence. Preaching at 
11 A. M. Rained all afternoon. The sentinel's name who shot Lieut. Gesman last night is 
Richard Barrett, 25th Battalion, Georgia Reserve. 

June 13. — Morning cool and raining. Dr. Meredith and I do the cooking today. I 
bought a new blanket from a Lt. from Grant's army captured on the 23rd of May. Paid 
him $5 in greenbacks. Found it very comfortable, as the night is cold. One navy officer 
got out by permission and returned very drunk in the evening. Rained all day and got very 
cold. 

June 14. — Morning cold and raining. Hastings and Cratty cooked today. Forty-four 
officers from Grant's army came in this morning. Brought good news. Rebel papers state 
that the officers that left here on the 10th were sent to Richmond ; probably for exchange. 
Dr. Meredith sick. Chaplain White sent to hospital. A large mail from the north came 
in today but none for me. 

June 15. — Morning still cool and cloudy. McNary and Burns cook today. It turned 
out to be a beautiful day. The same dull droning about us today as usual. Had a good 
dinner out of beans, and they full of worms. Received this morning's paper but not much 
news. 

June 16. — Morning cloudy and heavy appearance of rain. I do the cooking today. 
Dr. Meredith being sick. Worked hard to get the meals in time. Five more officers came in 
this evening. One of them was wounded and captured at Plymouth. They bring the news 
that our officers that left here were sent to Charleston, S. C. Preaching this evening. 

June 17. — Morning cloudy. Commenced raining at 7 a. m. Hastings does the cooking 
today. Loaned to Capt. Cratty $10 Confederate money. Bought one shirt for three dollars 
in greenbacks. Washed one shirt, two pairs socks and two handkerchiefs. Rained all day 
so I could not dry them. Bought some onions and light bread. Took a good bath after 
dark and put on a clean shirt. 

June 18. — Morning still raining. Ten officers captured on the 23rd of May from 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 325 

Siegel's army, came in this morning. Paid $24.50 for marketing (Confederate money). 
Rained hard most of the day. All newspapers stopped by Capt. Gibbs. I got one, notwith- 
standing. . 

June 19.— Sabbath morning pleasant and warm. Dr. Meredith and I cook today. 
Had a good breakfast and a vegetable dinner. Preaching at 11 A. M. and at night. Made 
noodles for supper and put them into the soup left from dinner. Rained some today. I 
pray God the time will soon come when we shall be released from prison. 

June 20. — Morning cool and cloudy, the day turned out pleasant. Hastings and Cratty 
cooked today Thirtv-six officers from Sturgis' army captured by Forrest, came in today. 
They give a sad picture of the affray. One of them that stayed at Andersonville last night 
said that 86 of our men died there yesterday and that over 2,200 have died since the prison 
was established. „ , j t. , u 

June 21 —Morning pleasant. McNary and Burns cook today. Bought two tooth 
brushes and sold them again to officers. Sent out for flour, bacon, molasses and shoes. 
Rained very hard in the afternoon. Wrote a letter to wife today. Prayer meeting tonight 

June 22.— Morning pleasant. Dr. Meredith and I cook today. Nineteen officers from 
Sturgis' army and three from Sherman's came in today. Bought five gallons of molasses 
and keg: cost SlOo.OO; also two pairs of shoes; cost $110. Had a meeting of officers and 
appointed three to go to our government and represent the conditions of our prisoners and 
urge an immediate exchange. t i j x 

June 23.— Morning pleasant. Cratty sick, Hastings cooks alone. I worked most of 
the day making a haversack. Made a good one. Two officers from Sherman's arrny came 
in today. Report favorable. Some excitement in prison camp on account of sending men 
North to get our prisoners released. t r i ,-, , • 

June 24. — Morning pleasant. McNary and Burns cook today. 1 feel like having a 
shake. Worked at haversack and finished it. Twentj'-two officers came in today from 
Butler's army. Got % yard oil-cloth and some Confederate money. The day very warm. 

June 25.— Morning warm and pleasant. Dr. Meredith and I cook for the day. The 
day very warm. My back aches much. Today three officers from Sturgis' army, one colonel 
that had been in Libby prison for a long time was exchanged, the others but about a month. 
Bought some ham, flour and bread. Washed two shirts, one pair drawers, and made one 

June 26.— Sabbath morning pleasant. Hastings and Cratty cook today. Chaplain 
of 104th Ohio Vols, preached at 10 A. M. A sermon preached in the evening by a captain 
of the 4th Va Regt. ; had some good meetings this Sabbath day. Sometime after dark I 
was at the sinks, when I heard the guard cock his gun and fire. An officer attempted to 
escape. The long roll was immediately sounded and great excitement ensued in camp. The 
guard was doubled. ^ , ^ u ^ c 

June 27— Morning pleasant and warm. I got up early to attend to the wants ot 
nature Guard would not let me leave the shed. Would have shot me had I gone on. Great 
excitement amongst the rebels; they discovered three tunnels that the Yankees had dug. 
They were already opened. One officer today from Sturgis' army. 

June 28.— Morning still pleasant. Dr. Meredith and I cook today. Thirty-five officers 
from Grant's army. Second Corps, came in this morning. Have just got through washing 
the supper dishes. The day has been very warm and I am very tired. Oh, how I long to 
be free from this prison and be with my dear family. Prayer meeting tonight. A good meet- 

°' June 29. — Morning pleasant. Two officers came in this morning. Hastings and Cratty 
cook today Had good" living. After dinner rained a hard shower and I got to aching in 
my bones so that I had to lie down all afternoon. Had a high fever in the evening. Two 
new pumps put in operation. 

June 30. — Morning warm and cloudy. I feel some better. Washed two shirts, one 
pair drawers and one pair socks. Much excitement concerning the washing at the pumps. 
Preaching tonight. McNary and Burns cook today. The day very warm. Some rain. 

July 1, Macon, Ga.— Got up very early. Morning pleasant. Dr. Meredith and I cooked 
today Had for breakfast fried mush, fried ham and tea. For dinner, bean soup, boiled 
meat, and fried mush. For supper two blackberry rolls and scrambled eggs. Lived well 
today. Two officers captured some time ago, came in. They state that Beauregard and 
his forces are captured. Wrote to wife. , . ^o: i, i. 

July 2 — Morning very pleasant. Hastings and Cratty cook today. Officers all cheer- 
ful this morning. Six more officers from Sherman's army came in this afternoon. They 
bring good news. The day very warm. We had a good prayer-meeting tonight. Six 
pravers were oflFered up to God for his blessing upon us. , r-, ,- 

' July 3— Morning warm and pleasant. McNary and Bums cook today. Preaching 
at 11 A. M. and at night. It is "hard to be shut up in prison and not have the privilege 
of worshiping God with our family at home. r n r i u r.fi a 

July 4. Morning beautiful and pleasant. Officers full of glee. Have a little flag. 

Sing the "Star Spangled Banner" and cheer for our glorious old Union and enjoy as best 



326 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

we can. Had for dinner a blackberry pot pie, fried potatoes and onions and biscuits. 
Splendid dinner for prisoners confined in the Southern Confederacy. Dr. Meredith and I 
cooked today. 

July 5. — Morning pleasant. Hastings and Cratty cooked today. Passed dull care 
away by reading and playing checkers. Borrowed a pair of pants to let the sweat dry out 
of my own. Prayer meeting tonight. The day has been very warm. There is a rumor 
in camp that Johnston is whipped. Hope it is so. 

July 6. — Morning pleasant. Day very warm ; uncomfortably so. Lt. Kennedy of an 
Indiana Regt., who escaped some days ago from here, was brought back today. He had 
got within 27 miles of our lines. Was recaptured by a citizen. News from Sherman is 
good. 

July 7. — Morning pleasant. I got up early as Dr. Meredith and I are cooks today. 
Felt very badly when I got up, but after breakfast felt better. Lived first rate today. Had 
apple dumplings, blackberry pie, and C. for dinner. Sliced beets, fried potatoes and black- 
berry pie for supper. If we had plenty of money we could live pretty well. 

July 8. — Morning very beautiful. Feel well, thank God. Hastings and Cratty cooked 
today. Six officers captured at Charleston, S. C, came in this morning. They say that that 
city could easily be taken. I found several lice on my clothes today. Oh, how I want to 
be free from this prison. 

July 9. — Morning very pleasant and the day exceedingly hot. McNary and Burns 
cook today. I bought three yards ausenburgh for pants. Bought one pair drawers and one 
skein of thread. Paid $3 greenbacks and $2 in Confederate money. I suflFer with heat. 

July 10. — Sabbath morning, beautiful and pleasant. Three officers came in this morn- 
ing. Received the news of the death of Capt. Loomis from an officer of the _5th Penna. 
Cavalry. I feel very uneasy concerning my two sons in the 11th. Dr. Meredith went to 
hospital. Dr. Robinson and I cook today. Six officers from Sherman's army came in this 
afternoon. It rained a hard shower in the evening. 

July 11. — Morning cool and pleasant. Hastings and Cratty cook today. Got a pair 
of ausenburgh pants made by a Lt. in camp. Cost five dollars in Confederate money. 
Whole cost of pants $17.50, or $3.50 in greenbacks. An unusual amount of business doing 
on the railroad today. Think Atlanta is gone up. Day very warm. 

July 12. — Morning very pleasant. McNary and Burns cook today. A great many 
rumors in camp today about exchange, etc. Time will tell_ us whether they are true or not. 
A number of letters received from Anderson [Andersonville Prison] today. 

July 13. — Morning pleasant and the day dry and warm. I cooked today. Lived first 
rate. The trains from Atlanta came in loaded with refugees and their stores. It is said 
that Macon is filled with people fleeing from Sherman ; also with wounded from Johnson's 
army, and much excitement prevails. 

July 14. — Morning pleasant. Hastings and Cratty cook today. In the afternoon 
there were some sixty or seventy prisoners brought and put outside of our prison fence. 
We could see them by going to the hill. I thought I recognized Chas. and Edwin among 
them. Asked the commandant to inquire for them, but could get no answer. 

July 15. — Morning pleasant. McNary and Burns cook today. Have received no 
answer regarding my boys. It is hard to be treated thus. Have caught a bad cold. Feel 
very sore. Rained in the evening. 

July 16. — Morning cool and pleasant. Dr. and I cook today. I feel badly this morn- 
ing. Laid in bed most of the day. Understand that there is considerable excitement in 
Macon, and that they have great fears of Early's safety. Hope he will be caught. 

July 17. — Morning very cool, but the day very warm. Hastings and Cratty cook 
this holy "Sabbath day. Had three roll calls today. Eight officers missing. Had preaching 
in the evening. Not feeling well. I laid in bed most of the day. Read the history of North 
America. Night beautiful and light. 

July 18. — Morning cool and cloudy. McNary and Burns cook. Rained today. Had 
two roll calls. Seven men missing. Rebels found another tunnel. Great excitement in 
camp. Feel badly. Ate no supper today. 

July 19. — Morning cool and cloudy. Dr. Meredith and Dr. Robinson cook today. 
Three roll calls. Several more officers missing. News today good for us. Read all day 
in my bible, and newspaper and another book. Several recaptured officers were brought 
back within the last few days. 

July 20. — Morning very pleasant. I got up very early as I had to do the cooking 
today. Had fried mush for breakfast, apple dumplings for dinner, and some fried potatoes 
and onions and potatoes and wheat bread for supper. Had three roll calls again this morn- 
ing. Great excitement here this morning on account of a reported raid on Andersonville. 

July 21. — Morning very pleasant. Hastings cooked today. Had two roll calls. I 
read all day in Bulwer's novels. News from Atlanta good. Day very warm. Rained good 
shower tonight. Four officers today. 

July 22. — Morning cool and pleasant. I got up at the break of day. Bathed my- 
self, then got ready to wash my clothes. Washed two shirts, drawers, and pants and one 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 327 

pair or socks. Twenty-four prisoners came in today. Part of them Wilson's Raiders. 
Still good news. The day very warm. Cratty cooked today. 

July 23. — Morning and day cool and pleasant. Lt. Burns cooked today. The same 
monotony in camp ; that is the every day scene, except some excitement among the sur- 
geons. The rebels want them to do duty. They bluntly refused. We, the officers, think 
they are in the right and will uphold them. 

July 24. — Sabbath morning very cool ; also the night and day. Feel the ague coming 
back on me. Got very chilly in the evening. Preaching at 11 and at night. McNary cooked 
today. Many rumors in camp. Nothing reliable. Found several lice on my clothes. 

July 25. — Morning very cool. Slept cold last night. Found some lice this morning. 
Dr. Meredith cooked today. Three roll calls in the evening. Four officers came in to camp. 
The Macon Telegraph of today claims to have repulsed Sherman, stating his loss to be 
18,620, while there is only seven thousand. 

July 26. — Morning pleasant. Not so cool as it has been for some days. Dr. Robinson 
cooked today. Two officers came in from Sherman's army. We have orders to move. 
Said to be going to Charleston, S. C. Rained a little in the evening. I have felt rather 
unwell for some days. 

July 27. — Morning very pleasant. I cook today. Still have the diarrhea. Otherwise 
feel very well. Considerable excitement on account of one division leaving. Were marched 
out at dark. Officers from Sherman's army came in. 

July 28, Macon, Ga. — Morning pleasant. Hastings cooked today. Loaned to Lt. 
Fluke $10, Confederate money. All excitement getting called out. Our squad got out be- 
tween the outer fence and dead line about sundown. Remained until 12 M., when we 
marched to the cars and left Macon at 4 A. M. on our way to Savannah. 

July 29, Macon, Ga. — Morning cloudy and pleasant; left Macon at 4 P. M. Passed 
through Greensboro, Milan and several other small stations ; arrived at Savannah at 7 
P. M., and after getting off" the cars were marched to the city hospital grounds where we 
encamped for the night with the heavens for our covering. When we arrived in the city 
the streets were filled with men, women and children to look at us poor Yankees. 

July 30, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant; had a refreshing night's sleep, but 
felt badly after getting up. Find our place in a bad condition. In the afternoon we got 
tents ; put them up, six officers to each tent, making it much crowded ; rained very hard 
during the night and I got very wet. 

July 31, Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning very pleasant after a hard night's rain. 
I got but little sleep last night in consequence of the rain. Slept part of the day. One of 
our officers made his escape during the night ; camp in bad order ; our com meal all got wet 
and soured and still we have to eat it. Preaching at dark. Many have been the scenes and 
excitements during this month. Health of our officers at Macon good. Many made their 
escape in different ways. Fifteen minutes after the train we were in passed Gordon sta- 
tion our forces came to that place, and destroyed many locomotives and camps, government 
buildings and stores, etc. Tore up the railroad tracks and destroyed things generally. 

Aug. 1, Savannah, Ga. — 'Morning and day very pleasant. Got up pretty early; felt 
well. Became much disgusted with the actions of some of our officers : they act more like 
heathen than officers. They are not fit to be called officers in our glorious army. Had 
hardtack issued today. Ate good after being confined to sour cornmeal for two days. 

_ Aug. 2, Savannah.— Morning cool and pleasant. Feel well this morning. Had fresh 
beef issued for the first time since we were prisoners ; one pound each per day. I bought 
eight onions, twelve eggs, four tins full of flour and two loaves of bread. Cost' $12.00. No 
news of importance in camp today. Camp is becoming very filthv. Rebels not hauling out 
the filth. 

Aug. 3, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant. I cook today. Capt. Sampson of the 2nd 
Mass. Heavy Artillery was recaptured and brought to camp today. Capt. Fisk, who com- 
manded our squad, was reduced from command for not reporting that Capt. Sampson had 
escaped. 

Aug. 4, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant, the day very warm. Laid around all day, 
had nothing to do. _ Feel much under the weather. Pulled off my drawers and found many 
lice; horrible to think that we must be kept in prison and filth. Had quite an interesting 
prayer meeting which commenced at dark. 

Aug. 5, Savannah, Ga. — Morning still very pleasant, the sick list is larger this morn- 
ing than usual. Washed one pair of pants, one pair of drawers and two shirts today; 
saw a notice that the fifty officers that were sent to Charleston from Macon were ex- 
changed. Hard that we must remain in such a place as this but trust in God that all is well. 

Aug. 6, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant, got up early and commenced skir- 
mishing; had but poor success, only caught one grayback; hope I may always have such 
poor success. The day warm and dry. 

_ Aug. 7, Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning pleasant. I got up late and read five chap- 
ters in my bible. Ate breakfast, lay down and read more in my bible. Had no preaching 



328 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

today. Many of the officers made great calculations to go out at night, there being five 
tunnels ready, but before they got started the guard found them out and it was stopped. 

Aug. 8, Savannah, Ga. — Morning wet and rainy. I cooked and had a hard job get- 
ting breakfast. Rained most of the day. Received word in the evening through a guard 
that Mobile was taken. Heavy firing heard all day; said to be at Fort McAllister. Seven 
days' rations issued to us this evening. All the troops moved from here during the night. 

Aug. 9, Savannah, Ga. — Morning still wet. Conscripts guarding us again. Heavy 
firing heard in the direction of Fort McAllister. Rebels say they know nothing of it. We 
think they do not speak as they think and know. 

Aug. 10, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant but cloudy. Received a morning paper 
in camp. It states the capture of Fort Morgan and the surrender of Fort Gaines. The 
paper says the most disgraceful surrender of the war for them. Had quite an argument 
with Drs. Meredith and Robinson on the diiTerence between Eastern and Western Penn- 
sylvania. 

Aug. 11, Savannah, Ga. — Morninsr pleasant. I feel middling well today; have had 
nothing to do but read and sleep. Oh, that the time may come soon when, with my fellow 
officers, will be set at liberty, and be permitted to return to our homes and loved ones 
again. I long for the day. 

Aug. 12, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant and clear. Hope for good weather again, 
for the weather we have is so bad that I fear it will make us all sick. Had three roll calls 
today and much hunting by the rebels for an officer that carried out a board. 

Aug. 13, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant, weather appears to be settled again. I 
cook today. Had a good supper, fresh beef and potato soup. One watermelon and si.x 
loaves of bread, at a cost of $11.50, e.xclusive of the meat. Rebels made another search for 
rebel clothes that some officer had got; they found pants and vest. 

Aug. 14, Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning very warm and dry. My dreams last night 
were pleasing; thought I was with my wife; after breakfast and roll call I wrote a letter 
to my wife and read several chapters in my bible. This day hasbeen very pleasant. Dr. 
Robinson and Dr. Terrill left for Charleston to be sent into our lines. Had preaching this 
evening. 

Aug. 15. Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant. Did some skirmishing and found five 
graybacks ; had quite a diarrhea in the afternoon. The day very warm. Drew seven days' 
rations. Quite a number of officers in prison. 

Aug. 16, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant ; got up, fixed my tent and cleaned 
up around it. Felt rather dull all day. Much argument on the subject of exchange and the 
fighting qualities of a negro. Nothing further of importance. The day very warm. 

Aug. 17, Savannah, Ga. — Morning still pleasant. I cook today. Rained hard while 
I was cookine dinner. I have had considerable diarrhea today. The exchange excitement 
has been high today; otherwise the same fnonotony prevailed as other days. Hope we will 
soon be exchanged. 

Aug. 18, Savannah, Ga. — Morning still pleasant. I feel some under the weather this 
morning. Lieut. Hastings and two other officers that had made their escape from Macon 
were recaptured and brought here today. Lieut. John M. Waters died at 4 P. M. 

Aug. 19, Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant. I policed the quarters in good order. 
Lt. John M. Waters of the 16th Conn. Vols, died yesterday of fever. Our men ate today 
three very large watermelons at a cost of $14.00. Considerable singing in camp today. 
Confederate authorities would not let Chaplain Dickson go to the grave of Lieut. John M. 
Waters. 

Aug. 20, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant. This day is commemorative of two 
great events in the history of my life. This day forty-three years ago I was born into the 
world ; this day four months ago I was captured by the rebels at Plymouth, N. C. God 
has been good to me all the days of my life in giving me health and strength of body and 
mind. 

Aug. 21, Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning beautiful and pleasant. I cook today. 
Yesterday the rebels brought in seven black men and seven wenches, slaves, to fill up our 
sinks. Capt. Donaghy took a sketch of them at work. Men can do almost anything, but 
women, though black, should not do such work. Rained very hard afternoon. 

Aug. 22, Savannah, Ga. — Beautiful morning after the rain. I washed one pair 
drawers, one shirt, and one pair socks ; wrote a letter to wife ; hope she will get it. Sent 
it by Dr. Q. R. M. Received orders to make out lists of all officers in alphabetical order, 
commencing with the captains. Drew seven days' rations. The day dry and pleasant. 

Aug. 23, Savannah, Ga. — This morning is very beautiful and clear. Feel rather dull. 
Did not rest well through the night. Dr. Meredith is sick. Rained very hard in the after- 
noon. Received some Southern tracts and papers published in Charleston, S. C. They 
were handed to Chaplain White, and by him to the squad. 

Aug. 24, Savannah, Ga. — Morning clear and pleasant. I rested hard last night. Was 
pained very much in my back and side. Got a paper in camp this evening; it gave us some 
good news concerning exchange ; rained hard this afternoon. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 329 

Aug. 25, Savannah, Ga. — Morning clear and pleasant ; I feel much better this morning. 
Read my bible in forenoon. Slept and played checkers in the afternoon. Had religious 
service in the evening. Received word from the front that Morgan was in our hands, and 
that we gained a victory at Petersburg. 

Aug. 2C, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant. I got up early as I cook today. Had 
splendid living ; for breakfast had beef hash and corn cakes and rice and coffee ; for dinner 
had fried beefsteak, friend potatoes, rice pudding and wheat bread; for evening meal had 
a watermelon. The whole cost of the day's living was $17 for the five of us. One tunnel 
was discovered in squad number one. 

Aug. 27, Savannah, Ga. — Morning cool and pleasant. On account of the tunnel that 
was found last night we could get no axes this morning. Rebels took two officers out and 
sent them to jail for digging the tunnel. Lt. Greenwood of the 3rd Md. Inf. died and was 
buried today; cause, diarrhea. 

Aug. 28. Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning very pleasant. If it was God's will, I 
would be much rejoiced to be with my beloved family this holy Sabbath day. There is an 
article on exchange in one of the Savannah papers that seems to leave the matter with our 
government. Pray God that exchange may soon take place. Chaplain White preached this 
evening. 

Aug. 29, Savannah, Ga. — Morning cool and pleasant. Burns cooked today. I feel 
dull today. Read my bible and another book on the War of 1812. Also slept several hours, 
dreamt of my son in the 11th Cavalry, and of my wife. In the evening the chaplain and 
surgeons received notice that they would soon set off. 

Aug. 30, Savannah, Ga. — Morning cool but pleasant. The day very warm. I feel 
sore and low spirited. Pained much in my bowels all day. Chaplain Dickson and I had a 
long conversation in the evening; went to bed at 10 P. M. 

Aug. 31, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant. I got up early as I cook today. 
Had for breakfast splendid hash, good corn cakes, and cold beef; for dinner, had fried beef- 
steak, fried potatoes and rice pudding, wheat bread and butter. All got up in good style 
as I am the best cook in the mess. I feel very tired tonight. Would not like to cook for a 
living. This is the last day of August and nothing more definite as to our exchange than 
at the first of the month. It is over a month since we came to Savannah. Penned up where 
we get to see nothing of the world, and God knows when we will get out of it. It was sup- 
posed by many we would be exchanged thi.^ month, but in this month two of our officers 
had died and several more sent out to the hospital. Among the number was Capt. Morrow 
of my regiment. I have great reason to be thankful to my Heavenly Father for my life and 
health. 

Sept. 1. 1864, Savannah, Ga. — Morning cool but pleasant. We received a box sent to 
Dr. Robinson, filled with underclothing, paper, envelopes, comb, soap, brush, towels and 
coffee, all of which we will use in our mess according to the doctor's directions when he 
left us. The chaplains and surgeons were notified to get ready to leave in the morning, 
for exchange. We had one of the most enthusiastic meetings tonight I have witnessed for 
many a day. Chaplain Dickson preached and Chaplain White exhorted. 

Sept. 2. Savannah, Ga. — In expectation of the chaplains and surgeons leaving us I 
got up between three and four A. M. and prepared for them some good warm coffee. Much 
excitement as to their going, every one leaving a message to send to their friends in the 
North. They did not get off till 6 P. M., owing to some mistake. There were three cheers 
given for their success. 

Sept. 3, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant and I feel well. We feel lost since 
the chaplains and surgeons left us but we are thankful to our Heavenly Father that through 
them our loved ones will hear from us. All quiet in camp today. 

Sept. 4, Savannah, Ga. — Sabbath morning very beautiful and pleasant. Cooked to- 
day, although I did not feel well when I got up. After I got through cooking I took off 
my dirty clothes, washed all over, and put on a clean shirt and white pants. Notwithstand- 
ing our chaplain being gone, we had preaching tonight. Lt. Ogden preached and I led the 
singing. 

Sept. 5, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant. Hastings cooks today. Good news 
for us from Atlanta. Also the news on exchange is rather encouraging. We are all very 
anxious for that day to come when we shall be at liberty and permitted to go to our 
homes and loved ones. Time seems long. 

Sept. fi. Savannah, Ga. — Morning pleasant but the day very hot. I felt quite unwell 
when I got un this morning; thank God, felt better through the day. Exchange news is 
good today. Threatened rain but only drizzled a little. The night cool. 

Sept. 7, Savannah, Ga. — Morning beautiful. Burns cooked today. Bought some sweet 
potatoes; paid $1.00 for six. Read some in my bible, played some checkers to pass away 
time as it appears very long to us poor prisoners. The day has been cool and pleasant. 

Sept. 8, Savannah, Ga. — Morning cool. Got up early as I cook today. Received good 
news in the rebel papers ; also understand the Andersonville prisoners are to be brought 



330 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

here. After dinner I felt quite unwell and lay down and slept for some time. We had 
prayer meeting this evening. 

Sept. 9, Savannah, Ga. — Morning quite cool. Hastings cooked today. The same 
monotonous life today that usually prevails in camp. In the evening there was a report that 
Sherman's cavalry had captured a train of Andersonville prisoners. Hope it is true. 

Sept. 10, Savannah, Ga. — Morning very pleasant. The day warm. Nothing of im- 
portance transpiring. This day, son Charles is twenty-two years old. He was born in the 
year 1842. I pray God that he and Edwin are both well, as also my dear wife and children 
at home. Would to God I were with them, for I am weary of this prison life. 

Sept. 11, Savannah, Ga. — Morning still beautiful, but the day warm. Lt. Bums cooked 
today. It seems to me if I were possessor of the world I would be willing to give it to have 
this Rebellion ended, the Union restored, and I. this holy Sabbath evening, going to church 
with my dear family. Lt. Abbot preached in the evening. 

Sept. 12, Savannah, Ga. — Morning warm and day not so hot as yesterday. As I 
cooked today I got up at daylight and commenced work. Had good living. Always so when 
I cook. Lt. Ogden toog dinner with us. Received orders to pack up to move at 4 A. M. 
tomorrow. 

Sept. 13, Savannah, Ga. — Got up at 3 A. M., got some breakfast and packed up and 
marched out of prison at 6 A. M. Passed through Savannah after daylight. Found the city 
a beautiful place. Got in the cars and left for Charleston at 7 A. M. ; were much crowded 
in the cars. One man shot at for getting out to attend to the calls of nature. A barbarous 
act on the part of the rebels. Arrived at Charleston at 4 P. M. 

Sept. 14, Charleston, S. C. — Got up feeling well after a refreshing sleep on the ground 
in the jail yard. Found all our officers and some privates here. Heart sickening to see 
the privates. Got greenbacks exchanged, $5 and $6 for $1. Stayed in jail yard all day and 
suffered much from the sand flying in our eyes. Lt. Hastings received two letters, one 
from his wife and one from his father-in-law. None for me. Got shaved by a barber ; price 
$1.00. 

Sept. 15, Charleston, S. C. — Got up early after lying all night on the ground. We 
had to stand all day in the jail yard in the filth and dust. Gen. Foster's shells made many- 
visits to the city of Charleston during the day and night. Had to lie close to the most mis- 
erable and filthiest privy I ever was near. 

Sept. 16, Charleston, S. C. — Morning pleasant. Still in jail yard. Day hot and sand 
flving. I cooked without anything to cook with : awful. We have not been treated so badly 
since we were prisoners. The shells from Gen. Foster's guns kept bursting in the city all 
day. Lt. Bryson lost his pocket-book containing $75 greenbacks and $90 in Confederate 
money. Heavy loss, while a prisoner. 

Sept. 17, Charleston, S. C — Morning cool. Woke up early, could not sleep. Foster's 
shells kept bursting all night in the city and some near our filthy prison where we still are. 
A private of the 12th N. Y. Cavalry died during the night. It was an awful sight to see 
him lying on the ground in dirt. Many buildings burnt in the city today caused by a shell. 
Foster kept shelling all the time so that the rebels could not work to put the fire out. 

Sept. 18, Charleston, S. C. — Sabbath morning, threatening rain and we no shelter. 
Another big fire in the city this morning. Understand twelve buildings were burnt yester- 
day. Foster kept shelling all night. Pieces of shell came near us yesterday. Rained pretty 
hard today, and up to 9 P. M. we had to stand and take it, having no shelter. Put our 
blankets on the ground at 9 :30 P. M. 

Sept. 19, Charleston. S. C. — Commenced raining between 2 and 3 A. M. ; did not soak 
through our blankets until about 5 A. M. when we got up. The jail jrard is dreadfully 
filthy and wet. In a bad condition. Morning papers state the fire of the 17th and 18th inst. 
burnt thirty buildings. Rained during the day and some during the night. We slept on 
the ground as usual. 

Sept. 20, Charleston, S. C. — Got up feeling just middling'. I cooked today and had a 
horrible time of it as it rained very hard. Our jail yard is flooded with water and filth. 
Our treatment is almost harder than we are able to bear. Our only hope is in Christ, who 
suffered more for us. Roll call this evening, the first since we are here. 

Sept. 21, Charleston, S. C — Commenced raining at 12, night. Rained hard until 5 
A. M. We who had to lie on the ground for want of shelter got some wet. Just awful 
treatment for human beings. We drew ration today for ten days. A small ration for so 
long a time. 

Sept. 22, Charleston Jail Yard. — We had another wetting last night. I got up early 
and washed myself all over. Butler's letter to Com. Ould, in the Mercury of this morning, 
has been read bv all the officers in the yard with much interest. All agree Butler is right. 
Write two letters to wife today. Moved our quarters to a little better ground. Still sleep 
on the ground as usual. 

Sept. 23, Charleston Jail Yard. — Morning clear. Day very warm. Got up early and 
commenced skirmishing for lice, and found but one. Then hung up our blankets to dry 
as they have been wet for several days. List of Sherman's officers taken and they are to 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 331 

be exchanged. Hard that we have to remain. Have had no wood for two days. Have 
burn up the pri-vy. Rained some during the night. 

Sept. 24, Charleston Jail Yard, S. C. — Morning cool and pleasant. I cooked today. 
Drew a ration of beef. My back very lame ; can hardly get around. Good news about 
exchange in the morning papers. Had bread and milk for breakfast and roast beef and 
potatoes for dinner. Eat but two meals a day. 

Sept. 25, Charleston Jail Yard, S. C. — Sabbath morning very cool and windy. My 
back is quite sore. Sherman's officers were taken out this morning to be exchanged. Hard 
that we must remain here. Felt gloomy all day. The wind high and the sand flew all over 
us. At 10 P. M. a fire broke out, burning one building. The shells from Foster's guns came 
fast. Some burst over us. 

Sept. 26, Charleston Jail Yard, S. C— Morning cool. Got up early; feel better than 
yesterday. Ate no dinner. At 3 P. M. my men, with 82 other officers, were taken out of 
the filthy jail yard under parole, and quartered in a fine large building on Broad St., where 
we have good rooms and splendid view of the Charleston harbor. Good change for us. 

Sept. 27, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Morning pleasant, but cool ; had a good night's 
rest in our new quarters. Bought some boards and fixed up our room in good order. Things 
look and feel very heartsome. Wrote a long letter to my wife. Feel better than I did in 
the morning. The shells are still fl3ang. 

Sept. 28, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Morning pleasant. Got up early. Capt. Stark- 
weather and I went to the bathhouse and took a good bath. Felt pretty well today. Wrote 
two letters, one to wife and one to father. Mailed both. Spent rather a pleasant time 
viewing the scenery' around here with a spy glass. Had two drinks of whisky today. It 
did me good. Officers got considerable money from a sharper two for one order on pay- 
master. 

Sept. 29, Broad St, Charleston, S. C. — Morning ver>' pleasant. Lt. Hastings and I 
took a good bath. It was very refreshing. Wrote a long letter to Samuel Young of the 
Clarion Banner. Did it up with one of Capt. Starkweather's and one of Lt. Hastings'. 
Have felt pretty well today. Plenty of eatables for sale in front of our quarters. Takes a 
large amount of money to buy and have no greenbacks to get exchanged. 

Sept. 30, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Morning pleasant and raining. I cooked today. 
Carried water to cook with from outside the jail yard. Met Capt. Stewart and Lt. Foot 
at the well. They informed me that Col. Maxwell was lying at the point of death. Sisters 
of Mercy visited us today, stated that the yellow fever was among our men. 

Oct. 1, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Commenced raining about 3 A. M. Hastings 
cooked today. Had a meal of fish for breakfast. Capt. Starkweather and I took a good 
salt water bath this morning. Bought a book for $2 Confederate money. Returned it again 
as it was the third volume. News is we have to leave here tomorrow for Columbia, S. C. 
Hope it is not so. A number of us talked of the proprietj' of getting up a communication 
to Jones. 

Oct. 2, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Sabbath morning, pleasant. The day very warm. 
Sent in a communication to Maj. Sam. Jones, asking for a parole of fort\--five days to go 
North and effect our exchange if possible; if not, to return. Hope we will be successful. 
Felt very lonesome. Everything so quiet and dull. If we only could have church to go to 
we could put in the Sabbath day much more pleasantly. 

Oct. 3, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Morning wet and raining. Day very hot. Flag 
of truce beat went out at 8 A. M. Trust there will be some good news for us. Hope I will 
get a letter from my loved ones. 

Oct. 4, Broad St., Charleston. S. C. — Morning very pleasant. Took a good bath. 
Passed the day in reading. Foster shelled the city with more fury than ever. Received no 
letter as I had hoped I would by the truce boat. Makes me feel very badly to think I 
cannot get any word from my dear family. 

Oct. 5, Broad St., Charleston, S. C. — Morning still very pleasant. Was kept awake 
by twenty-five of our number being ordered ofl^. At 8 :30 A. M. very unexpectedly the 
balance of us. We were ordered to pack up, which we did. Marched through the city at 
11 A. M. Entered the cars at 12 M. and at 1_ P. M. left for Columbia, S. C, where we ar- 
rived at 10 P. M. Remained in the cars all night. Hard time in the way of sleeping. 

Oct. 6, Columbia, S. C. — Had no sleep last night. A number of our officers made 
their escape in the morning. Felt very badly. Was permitted to go outside of the cars. 
Got a drink of whisky, which did me good. Changed our position a short distance. Rained 
very hard. We just had to stand and take it. 

Oct. 7, Depot, Columbia, S. C. — Got up from our wet ground bed. Got a bite of 
breakfast and at 9 A. M. were moved about two miles from the city into a large grove or 
woods, and there left without giving us any tents, wood, or anything else, but a heavy 
guard around us. Some 1,600 officers and only twelve allowed to go for water at a time. 

Oct. 8, 2 miles from Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cool. Our blankets wet with dew. 
Hastings got breakfast. Had nothing but com cakes to eat. Our situation is more gloomy 
than ever. Could get nothing to buy. There were a few potatoes came to camp in the 



332 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

evening. I could get none. Some officers got boxes from home today. A number of boxes 
of sanitary goods also came. I got one shirt and one kerchief and one small towel. 

Oct' 9, Camp in Woods, S. C— Sabbath morning very cold. Heavy frost. Slept 
hard last night. Nearly froze. Nothing to eat for breakfast but corn cakes ; hard times for 
us, poor Yankees. The day raw and windy; no religious exercises. No news. Negroes 
worked all day slashing timber. 

Oct. 10, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning very cold. Slept more comfortable than 
night before last. Got up early. Still nothing to eat but corn cakes ; have had no meat 
for six days. Oh, but I long for home. The day cool and raw wind. Preparations made 
by quite a number to leave camp tonight. I strolled around through camp all day. Felt 
very unhappy. 

Oct. 11, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning cold. A heavy frost. Burns cooked today. 
Hastings, Star, Aldridge, Longworth and Terwilliger made their escape at 3 A. M. Also 
several other officers whom I do not know. Five officers, who made their escape some 
days ago, were recaptured and brought into camp today. The day cool and windy. 

Oct. 12, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning still cool and windy. My back aches very 
much this morning. Sent a cake North this morning by a gunboat officer. Nothing of im- 
portance transpired during the day. Got warmer towards evening. 

Oct. 13, Camp two Miles from Columbia, S. C. — Morning much more pleasant than 
it has been for some days. Slept warmer than I have since we are in this camp. Several 
officers made their escape this morning. Two of them were returned this evening. They 
were caught by dogs and cavalry. The whole country is on the lookout for escaped Yankees. 

Oct. 14, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold. I feel rather un- 
well. Caught cold. Have the piles and diarrhea. A cavalry captain from Phila. died in 
camp yesterday. Said to be yellow fever. Burns cooked today. There is but three in our 
mess now. The lines were extended today, giving us more room. Several specks of gold 
found near a little brook in camp. ^, . . 

Oct. 15, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning some warmer. Threatenmg rain. Wrote a 
letter to wife' and children. Baked it with others in a biscuit and sent it North. Hope it 
will get through safe. An Ohio officer died today of yellow fever. I feel very badly this 

evening. I ache all over. „^^,,, . , ,, . . ^ 

Oct. 16, Camp in Woods. S. C. — Sabbath morning, pleasant, but threatening rain. 1 
felt very badly until I ate breakfast. Had tea which helped me much. Went to sick call. 
Got three doses of calomel and rhubarb. Got very sick in the afternoon. Threw up con- 
siderable ; in the evening felt some better. Rested pretty well during the night. Preaching 
in camp this evening. More exchange rumors. 

Oct. 17, Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C. — Morning quite cool. I still feel unwell. 
Felt badly all dav. An election held in camp for president. The vote is as follows : Lincoln 
1,024, McClellan'l43, Johnson 1,031, Pendleton 112; Lincoln majority 881, Johnson majority 
919. ' Why this election was held today, I know not. The night dark and threatening rain. 

Oct. 18, Camp in Woods, Columbia. S. C. — Morning warm and threatening rain. I 
feel some better today than I have for some days. Hope I will get perfectly well again. In 
the evening got to feeling very badly Felt cold and chilly. Bones ached all through me. 

Oct. 19, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant, but cool. I feel 
some better and cook today. Have drawn no meat yet. Cratty and Hayes were returned to 
camp this morning. Capt.Donaghy, Lt. Bryson and Lt. Spence ran the guard about 8 p. m. 
Four shots were fired at them, but without effect. Great excitement with the rebels. .A.11 fell 

Oct. 20, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant. I feel pretty well, 
thank God. I have been a prisoner six months today. Found our coffee kettle that we lost 
when we came to Columbia. Made a proposition to get out. But was rejected. Reasons 
for not complying were reasonable and just. Will wait until time comes. 

Oct. 21, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant. The night was 
cold. I feel pretty well again, thank God. Many of our officers are sick. Still nothing to eat 
but corn meal and sorghum molasses. Lt. Young of the 4th Pa. Cavalry was shot dead by 
a guard just a little after dark. 

Oct. 22, Camp in the Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold and windy. 
If we have to stay here this winter in our present condition we will suffer dreadfully. Lt. 
Young who was shot last evening was buried in sight of camp today. Had considerable time 
getting out for wood. .Mso had a taffy pulling this evening. The day cool and windy. No 
news of importance today. 

Oct. 23, Camp in Woods, near Columbia. S. C. — Sabbath morning, pleasant after 
sun up; a heavy white frost this morning. I cook today. There is a report in camp said 
to come from the rebel officer of the day, that twenty-five hundred of Wheeler's Cavalry is 
in Columbia, said to be cut off. Also another exchange rumor. Had a big time hunting 
for stolen beef. 

Oct. 24, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C— Morning cool. The day warm. 
Burns cooked today. Paid the last dollar today for tobacco. Expected to make use of Con- 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 333 

federate money, but failed. A hog came into camp and was soon caught and killed. Threat- 
ened rain in the evening. 

Oct. 25, Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C— Morning clear and cold. Day warm. Had 
corn cakes and sorghum molasses for breakfast. Have no money in mess. So we have to 
live on the rations we get. Some letters came for officers purporting to contain money, but 
the money had been taken out at Charleston. Dreadful, that we cannot get our own. 

Oct. 26, Camp in Woods. Columbia, S. C— Morning pleasant but cool. I slept cold 
last night. Starkweather cooked today. At 10 A. M. I got permission of Capt. Martin to go 
into the woods to get poles to build a shanty. For the want of an axe we only got three or 
four rounds put up. In the evening some five officers ran the guard line, and were fired at. 

Oct. 27, Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C. — Morning warm but cloudy. We got up at 
daylight and commenced work at our shanty. Worked hard. Got it so that by putting a 
blanket over it, it kept us drj'. It commenced raining at 11. Rained all day. Donaghy, 
Bryson and Spence were brought in this morning. 

Oct. 28, Camp in Woods, Columbia. S. C. — Morning clear but cold and windy. Had 
nothing to eat for breakfast but corn meal cakes. Hard fare, indeed. Some officers escaped 
last night. The guard fired at them without efifect. Worked all day at our shebang. Got it 
so that we slept pretty comfortable. We banked it up all around with dirt. 

Oct. 29. Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant, but cold. A heavv white 
frost this morning. Felt rather dull and gloomy all day. Did not work any on our shebang. 
Nothing but corn cakes for breakfast. Have had no meat ration issued to us for thirty-six 
days and we understand they are not going to give us any. They say for retaliation. 

Oct. 30, Camp in Woods. Columbia, S. C. — Sabbath morning pleasant. I feel pretty 
well. Dreamed last night that I saw son Chas, fishing at the dam at Franklin. The water 
was clear; he caught a bass and handed it to me and I took it off the hook. Mass held by 
a priest at 10 A. M. Wrote a letter to wife. Prayer meeting tonight. 

Oct. 31, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant, but cloudy. I 
cooked today. Still have nothing but corn cakes to eat. I received this morning one letter 
from wife dated Sept. 3, and one from Dr. Meredith dated Sept. 24. I am much rejoiced 
to hear from my loved ones once more. The day was warm. Several officers made their 
escape last night. This month has been one of considerable suffering to me; am out of 
money. Can get nothing to eat but corn and sorghum and have to be smoked to death, and 
when it is cold have to nearly freeze. 

Nov. 1, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning cold and windy. Burns 
cooked today. Same old fare as usual. Got out for wood and brush today. Got a good 

pile. Made some alterations in our shebang. Burns and had a quarrel about Mc- 

Nary's blankets. Burns was in the right. is a very little man in principle. 

Nov. 2, Camp in Woods, near Columbia. S. C. — Morning raining. Very disagreeable. 
Commenced raining about 4 A. M. Burns and I got up and spread a blanket over the part 
we sleep under. Burns and I mess together — a thing I have wanted for a long time on ac- 
count of the meanness and littleness of . Borrowed $7. Bought some meat. Rained 

all day and very disagreeable. 

Nov. 3, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning cold and drizzling rain. Burns and I got up 
early and got our breakfast. Had a little meat and gravy. A little better than corn and 
sorghum. Worked at chimney in our shebang. Had to stop for want of an axe. Rained 
all day. 

Nov. 4. Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold and windy. Continued 
so all day. Rebels paroled one hundred officers to get wood. Some one hundred others took 
advantage of the parole the others took, and made their escape. Six of the 103d went. I 
would have gone but I was fearful I could not stand it on acount of rheumatic pains in knee. 

Nov. 5, Camp in Woods. S. C. — Morning cold and windy but the day turned out 
pleasant. I got up early and got breakfast. Tried to get an axe to finish our shebang but 
could not. Had a pretty good dinner. Got a small piece of mutton and made a soup. Some 
of the officers that made their escape were brought back today. 

Nov. 6, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning very cold. A heavy white frost. The day 
pleasant. Many rumors of exchange, but I would be rejoiced to be home with my family 
this Sabbath day and enjoy with them the pleasure of going to God's house of worship. 
Preaching in the evening. 

Nov. 7, Camp in Woods, Columbia, S. C— Morning very pleasant. Got up early. 
Went to work plastering our chimney. Took a stitch in my back. Hurt me so I could not 
straighten myself. Some thirteen officers that escaped on Friday were brought back today. 
Exchange ran high this evening. 

Nov. 8, Camp in Woods, S. C. — Morning very foggy and commenced raining. Cloudy 
all day. I suffered much with my back and diarrhea and could do nothing in the way of 
work. Because I could not, there was nothing done at the shebang. Fifteen recaptured 
officers were brought in this afternoon. Four of our Regt. Felt some better tonight. 

Nov. 9, Camp in Woods. S. C— Morning pleasant and day fine. My back still very 



334 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

sore. Did nothing all day but read. A number more officers recaptured and brought in 
today. Exchange has died away. 

Nov. 10, 1864, Camp in Woods, near Columbia, S. C. — Morning very pleasant, also the 
day fine. My back not quite so sore. I ran over camp and borrowed a tub and went to 
washing my clothes as I had not washed since I came to this camp. Had them all clean 
when we came. More officers came in today. I received of Ll Sharp $20 Confederate 
money on a blanket I sold him sometime ago. 

Nov. 11. — Morning cool and cloudy. I feel some better this morning. Wrote two 
powers of attorneys for the purpose of raising some Confederate trash so that I can get 
something to eat. Lt. Wilson and Capt. Cross being out 22 days were brought in this morn- 
ing. Went out for wood. Brought in a small load and hurt my back so that in the evening 
I could hardly walk. 

Nov. 12. — Morning cold and windy. I cooked this day. My back is very sore. Got 
$50 Confederate money of Capt. R. T. Swift, 27th Mass. Vols.; gave him my note for $25 
greenbacks ; went out for wood and poles ; got a fine lot. Many boxes issued to officers 
today. 

Nov. 13. — Sabbath morning very cold. A heavy white frost. Capt. Starkweather 
cooked some squash for breakfast. My back is hurting me very much. I stayed in shebang 
all day reading and thinking of home and loved ones, but God doeth all things well. I must 
be resigned to His will, believing I will soon be out of this. 

Nov. 14. — Morning very cold and frosty. My back hurt me so badly I could hardly 
get out of my bunk. Stayed in the shebang all day. Read in a book called Adam Bede. 
Quite interesting work. It is hard to be kept in such a place as this and feel so badly as I 
do. Trust it is all right.. 

Nov. 15. — Morning still cold. Day rather pleasant. Burns cooked today. We re- 
ceived the intelligence in the morning papers that Lincoln is re-elected again. Good news. 
Nothing more of importance. My back is still lame. 

Nov. 16. — Morning not so cold. I got up early and got breakfast. But could not get 
dinner for my back was so sore. I suffered more today than any day yet. Feel a little better 
tonight. Finished reading Adam Bede today. The day was pleasant. 

Nov. 17. — Morning pleasant. My back feels some better. Made out power of at- 
torney to draw some Confederate money in order to live. Have to give one for two; too 
bad, when I could get eight for one if I had greenbacks, or 24 for gold. I wrote four let- 
ters today. One to wife, one to H. A. Thompson, one to James R. Snowden, and one to 
Morganstine and Bro. Nothing more of importance. 

Nov. 18. — Morning middling warm, but very damp and foggy. My back feels much 
better. Received a letter from wife. Was glad to hear from her again. Answered it im- 
mediately. Some twenty boxes came for officers. I long to get one with something to eat 
in it. 

Nov. 19. — Morning cloudy and raining. I feel pretty well, for which I feel thankful. 
Lieut. McCall and Lieut. Fluke 'were brought in this morning. They were out over two 
weeks and had traveled over 160 miles away. An order from Gen. Hardee came today, say- 
ing that all Federal officers must give their parole not to try to escape or be put in a pen 
and treated as are our enlisted men ; in consequence many made their escape tonight. 

Nov. 20. — Sabbath morning, dull and raining. I cooked today out of rations. Had 
to borrow $10 Confederate money to buy something to eat. It is hard to be starved to death. 
Hope something better will soon happen to us poor souls. Capt. Morrow, Lt. McCall and 
Capt. Cratty made their escape this evening. Rained pretty much all day. 

Nov. 21. — Morning very disagreeable. Rained all day. Had to stay in quarters. Had 
but little wood and that poor. Blew up cold about 9 P. M. Slept cold all night as I had to 
put two blankets over the top of shebang to keep dry. 

Nov. 22. — Morning very cold. Wind blowing hard. Could not get warm until evening 
when we got some good wood. Took Lt. Bryson in with us. Found it to our advantage 
Had a splendid fire all evening. Fired up our shebang. More comfortable. 

Nov. 23. — Morning very cold but not so windy. Slept pretty comfortable last night. 
Ice froze in water buckets nearly two inches thick. Weather appears settled again. Another 
officer died and was buried today. Disease dysentery. Two recaptured officers were brought 
in this evening. All quiet in camp today. 

Nov. 24. — Morning very cold. Day pleasant. I cooked today. My back hurt me very 
much. This being Thanksgivingday we had a first rate dinner. Borrowed the money do get 
the grub. Could get no papers today. Sherman is playing snatch with Rebs. 

Nov. 25. — Morning very cold. A heavy white frost. My back feels some better. Capt. 
Starkweather cooked today. Still get no papers. Hardee issued an order that we shall not 
have papers. Lt. Bryson, Spence and Capt. Smullen made their escape again today. Lt. 
Paxton gave me $50 in Confederate money; I loaned him $5 in greenbacks at Macon. 

• Nov. 26. — Morning cold and cloudy; a very heavy frost. Lt. Bums cooked today. 
A great many officers m.ade their escape today, while others were out on parole for wood. 
My men were after wood when they went out; also myself. We got a fine lot of wood. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 335 

One New Jersey ofiBcer killed and one wounded about 7 P. M. in trying to escape through 
the woods. 

Nov. 27. — Morning rather pleasant and the day fine. I cooked today. After breakfast 

I washed all over and put on clean clothes. Drew rations today. The officer that was killed 
last night was buried today. Six shots were fired by the guard at a cow. 

Nov. 28. — Morning pleasant. I feel pretty well again, thank God. Capt. Starkweather 
cooked today. From 10 A. M. until 1 P. M. I was quite unwell, the piles bearing down on 
me dreadfully. I gave a draft on the Hon. Jas. Campbell for $100 in gold. One shot fired 
on guard line; no one hurt. 

Nov. 29. — Morning warm and threatening rain. Burns cooked today. I washed my 
clothes and did some writing. Wrote one letter to wife and one to James Campbell. Some 
twenty or thirty officers made their escape today. There is a surgeon here to examine sick 
and disabled officers for the purpose of exchange. 

Nov. 30. — Morning warm and day warm and pleasant. I cooked today. Capt. Mor- 
row and Lt. McCall were brought in camp this morning They were out ten days. Received 
letters from wife dated 14th, and 29th of Aug, 1864; also one from A. Myers. 

Dec. 1, 1864, Camp Sorghum, S. C. — Morning warm and pleasant, also the day. At 

II A. M. one of the guards shot Geo. Turbyne, 2nd Lt, 66th Regt., N. Y. Infantry. It was 
a cold blooded murder, as he was not on the guard line but was waiting with his axe to 
go out for wood. Wrote a letter to A. Myers, and authority for wife to draw part of my 
pay. 

Dec 2. — Morning warm. Cloudy and threatening rain. Burns cooked today. I 
strolled through camp pretty much all day like a lost sheep. The rebels stopped letting us out 
for wood and got negroes to get the wood for us. The result will be, we will not get half 
enough wood to burn. Lt Bradley, Pitt, and McKinney were brought back today. They had 
got within eight miles of Atlanta and then found Sherman had moved. I finished reading 
my bible through today. 

Dec. 3. — Morning pleasant. Still threatening rain. From this on Morrow and Burns 
do the cooking. Starkweather and I do the other work. A number of officers were brought 
in this morning that had got pretty nearly to our lines. Commenced the first chapter in 
my bible this morning. Received $600 from Potter on draft on Jas. Campbell, Clarion Co. 

Dec. 4. — Sabbath morning pleasant and the day warm. Stayed in tent most of the day. 
Wrote a long letter to Hon. James Campbell. Gave him a history of our situation here. 
Intend sending it by private conveyance. Hope he will get it. Some more officers were 
brought in today. We get but little news from our army. Got quite cool in the evening. 

Dec. 5, 1864, Camp Sorghum, S. C. — Morning cold. A very heavy frost. Lt. Bryson, 
Spence and Capt. Smullen with seven others were brought in this morning. The Rebels shot 
one of their own officers last night Rumor in camp that we are to be moved. I tried to get 
some more Confederate money but could not 

Dec. 6. — Morning cool and cloudy. Feel very gloomy today. The Rebels opened the 
lines again and let us out for wood. We got a pretty good pile considering we had no axe. 
Frost and Reegle were brought in this evening. 

Dec. 7. — Morning warm and raining. I feel pretty well. Dreamed last night that I 
got a box from home. The day very pleasant. Wrote a letter to Campbell, but concluded 
not to send it. Had a pretty good dinner today. No news of importance today. Would 
like to hear from Sherman. 

Dec. 8, 1864, Camp Sorghum, S. C. — Morning very pleasant. Got up early. Got things 
prepared for leaving camp, but was disappointed in getting out. Two blood hounds came 
into camp this morning. They were caught by the officers and instantly killed. It raised 
quite an excitement amongst the rebels. A notice came for 50 officers on special exchange. 
Dec. 9. — Morning cold and cloudy. Letters came for many officers, but none for me. 
Some two or three hundred officers were sent away for exchange. Sick and wounded and 
specials, many as hearty as I. Starkweather moved his quarters today. 

Dec. 10. — Morning very cold. Lts. Fluke and Laughlin were brought into camp yes- 
terday. Day very disagreeable. Got out for wood at 1 P. M. The brush covered with sl'eet 
I got very wet cutting poles in the woods. Loaned Lts. Fluke and Laughlin $20 apiece in 
Confederate money. Paid for it $1 in gold for $6.00. 

Dec. 11. — Sabbath morning cold and windy. Thundered and lightened last night Four 
guards deserted with their arms and accoutrements on the night of the 8th off their posts 
around camp. This has been a very gloomy Sabbath to me. No church to go to and the 
day very cold and windy. Oh, but I long to be home with my family. 

Dec. 12. — Got up early. Morning cold. Was ordered by Rebels to pack up for a 
move. Got ready and left at 12 ML As we built our own house we burn them down. 
Rebels forbid it, but no use. We were put into a part of the grounds of the Insane Asylum. 
No tents, the night very cold. Hard treatment 

Dec. 13, 1864, Camp in Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold; I felt bad. Went to work 
to build a house for thirty-six men. Worked hard all day. Got up our frame. Could have 
had much more, but could not get into the camp. I seized a large tent and twelve of us lay 



336 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

in it. Much better than lying out in the frost. There is a brick wall all around us about 
12 ft. high. 

■ Dec. 14, 1864, Columbia, S. C. — Morning not quite so cold, but threatening rain. Day 
turned out pleasant. Great excitement in building. I could not get lumber to finish our 
house. A number of recaptured officers were brought in to the yard this evening. News 
from Sherman today is good; he is within three miles of Savannah. 

Dec. 15. — Morning cool and cloudy and foggy. More recaptured officers brought in 
this morning. We worked at our building putting frames for bunks, etc. We still have 
good news from Sherman. We have to get news on the sly. 

Dec. 16. — Morning cool and very foggy. Some exchange rumors in camp. Hope they 
may be true. Worked at our chimney until the middle of the afternoon when we got boards 
enough to put on one end of our building. And then put them on. The day very pleasant. 
The night not so cold. 

Dec. 17, 1864, Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant. I got up early and took a bath, 
shaved and put on clean clothes. Exchange is down this morning. Got clay for our chim- 
ney. Got the chimney up to joist. Made a good job. I felt bad all day, having caught cold 
lying on the ground nights, besides I had the blues on account of having to stay in prison. 

Dec. 18. — Morning pleasant. Still have the blues. This being the holy Sabbath day 
I will work none at the house. Sat at quarters all day. There was preaching in the evening 
by one of the officers. 

Dec. 19. — Morning pleasant. Wrote one letter to wife and one to A. Myers. I still 
have the blues. There were several notices came in this morning for officers, notifying them 
of their special exchange. Hard to have to stay and see others go. The news we get today 
from Sherman is of the most cheering kind. I hope he will soon wind up this rebellion. 
Rained in the evening. 

Dec. 20, 1864, Columbia, S. C. — Morning cool and cloudy. There was a rainbow in the 
North this morning. It is eight months today since we were captured. It appears like a 
year. I did a large washing this forenoon. Finished the chimney on our house at 2 P. M. 
Cratty and several officers were brought in this morning. He reports seventeen of my men 
dead. The day cold and cloudy. Wrote a letter to wife. 

Dec. 21. — Morning cool and raining. Very disagreeable. Rained pretty much all 
night. The old tent we slept in leaked. Our clothes all wet. We have a wonderful time of 
it. Gen. Winder came into camp. Officers saluted him with pack up (?) more sorghum, 
more corn meal, more grits, etc. — a laughable scene. The day cold and very windy. 

Dec. 22. — Morning very cold. I cooked today. Nearly froze as the day was very 
cold and windy. We had but little wood and had to cook out of- doors. If the Rebel pris- 
oners in our hands at the North are treated half as badly as we are, I pity them. Bought 
a bottle of whiskey; good article. Paid $40 for it. I drank pretty freely, as the night was 
very cold. Slept pretty warm. Went to bed late. 

Dec. 23, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold ; we are all nearly frozen. No fires 
to warm at. Slept on the ground, for we cannot get boards to finish our house. Received 
news today of the evacuation of Savannah, of Thomas licking Hood, and capturing a large 
number of prisoners. Good news this to us who are prisoners, the only thing that keeps us 
up. I got to trembling awhile before dark so badly that I could not get warm. 

Dec. 24. — Morning very cold. Slept cold from about 1 o'clock at night. Had to get 
up to go to sink three times during the after part of the night. Feel very badly today. My 
hands, finger joints, and legs pain me very much, besides the piles are troubling me so that 
I have but little rest. The day raw and cold. 

Dec. 25. — The day, Sabbath morning, also Christmas. Cold and dreary. I feel 
gloomy to think I must be here in this miserable prison deprived of every earthly comfort. 
Oh, but I long to be free again and with my loved ones. I pray to God that the day is not 
far distant when I shall enjoy that blessing. The day very dreary; commenced raining at 
dark. Rained pretty much all night. Our tent leaked. 

Dec. 26, 1864, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very disagreeable. I feel quite unwell. 
Caught cold lying on the damp cold ground. There was talk last evening of moving us again. 
I dreamt of receiving a box with clothing and of being with my dear wife. Hope the day 
is not far distant when I shall be. The day damp and disagreeable. In the evening I took a 
pill of blue mass. I felt quite unwell. 

Dec. 27. — Morning very foggy. I got up from the damp cold ground feeling unwell. 
I took a dose of salts. They soon operated. Felt better during the day. We boiled tafTy 
until 11 P. M. Ate considerable. A proposition was made to have a dinner got up on New 
Year's. 

Dec. 28. — Morning dreary. Rained very hard in the after part of the night. Our 
clothes got wet as our tent leaked. My squad in favor of a New Year's dinner; got an order 
from Swift on Sutler for $200. Hard to have to pay one of our own officers $1.00 green- 
backs for $2.00 in Confederate money. If I had the greenbacks I could get $12 for one. 

Dec. 29, 1864, Columbia. S. C. — Morning cold and windy. I felt very cold all day. 
Bought 20 lbs. cotton. Lt. McCall and I went to work and made a tick out of my old blanket 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 337 

and made a mattress with the cotton. Went to bed at 6 P. M. to keep from freezing. Slept 
very comfortable on our new mattress. Day very cold. 

Dec. 30. — Morning some pleasanter than it has been for some time. Still pretty cold. 
I cooked today. Lt. McCall and I quilted a comforter today. Now we have a good bed, 
thank God for it. We have had rough sleeping for some time. 

Dec 31. — Slept well last night on our new bed. Morning raining and disagreeable. 
Hard work to get our cooking done as our wood is poor and scarce. This is the last of 
1864, and I am yet a prisoner in the hands of the Rebels. I had hoped to spend New Year's 
with my dear family, but as that privilege has been denied me I must be content thanking my 
heavenly Father for his goodness and mercy to me through the year that is just closed; 
while thousands have passed from time to eternity, my life is still spared. I will trust in 
God's promises, believing that the time is not far distant when I shall be returned to my 
dear family and home. This last day of the old year is very cold and disagreeable. We 
have to do without fire. I am very cold while I am penning this. I am now going on nine 
months a prisoner. Hope I will soon be released; have now 14 months' pay due me. 

Jan. 1, 1865, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very cold and frosty, but clear and the sun 
shining beautifully. Oh, that I were home with my loved ones to enjoy this holy New Year's 
Sabbath Day, but here I am a prisoner of war deprived of that privilege; wrote a letter and 
mailed it to my wife. The day cool, although the sun is shining brightly. 

Jan. 2. — Morning pleasant over head but the air cool. Having no fire we nearly freeze. 
Many officers have but little covering. The day was raw and cold. Rumor in camp that 
the commander of the prison has gone to Richmond to effect a parole for us. 

Jan. 3. — Morning moderate and pleasant. I cooked today. Dreamed last night of see- 
ing father and mother. I wish it was so. I dreamed a great deal about being in Franklin. 
At between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon it began to rain. The afternoon was very dis- 
agreeable and cold. Wrote letters to father and son Charles. 

Jan. 4. 1865, Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant and the day warm. I bought this 
morning $53.00 worth of beef in weight 12 lbs. The Rebels owed us four thousand dollars 
for sorghum not delivered. Today the Sutler gave us the worth of that amount in beef and 
potatoes; it gave each man what he could eat at one meal; I made a bunk today for myself. 
Jan. 5, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning cold. A very heavy white frost 
covered the ground. I slept comfortable in my new bed. Found one graybacic on my shirt 
this morning. Had for dinner today: Roast beef, potatoes, corn cakes and good gravy. 

Jan. 6. — Morning wet, but warm. Commenced raining at 4 A. M. Our tent in a mis- 
erable condition to put beds on the ground, the ground being wet and muddy. Feel very 
drowsy today. 

Jan. 7. — Morning cold. Day cool, but sun shines. I cooked. Had good roast beef 
and potatoes for dinner, cost $20 for four. Longstreet's corps passed through this place last 
evening. Said to be going to Branchville, S. C. Offering $13 for U. S. bills and $10 for 
gold drafts. 

Jan. 8, 1865, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning very cold. Had to run and 
tramp around to keep from freezing, having no fire to sit down to. Rumor again says we 
are soon to be exchanged. O, how I would rejoice if it were so. 

Jan. 9. — Morning cold and cloudy, threatening rain. Feel much disheartened at our 
situation. Had pleasant dreams of home last night. Commenced raining about 7 P. M. 
Wife came to see me at Plymouth, N. C, this night one year ago. Had a much pleasanter 
night then than this. 

Jan. 10. — Morning warm and raining. I got up before daylight and washed all over. 
Feel much better by so doing. Rained very hard during the day. Our tent inside is a per- 
fect mud hole and no fire to dry it. This day one year ago wife and I went from Hooker 
to ray quarters. 

Jan. 11. — Morning cold, but day pleasant. Moved our tent today. Cut part of our 
building and set the tent up against the chimney. Took boards off building and made bunks 
for eight to lie in. Much more comfortable. 

Jan. 12, 1865, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning cold, but day pleasant. Feel 
pretty well in bodily health, but very low spirited on account of my imprisonment. Do hope 
the day is not far distant when I shall be free. 

Jan. 13. — Morning cold. Day very pleasant; after getting up I went outside our tent 
and while brushing my clothes I took a stitch in my back, so I could do nothing but read 
all day. 

Jan. 14. — Morning cool and threatening rain, but cleared up and the day turned out 
pleasant. Fired up our tent again. Bought $80 worth for the mess today. Will last us 
three days. 

Jan. 15. — This is God's holy Sabbath day. The morning beautiful and pleasant. I 
cooked today. Preaching at 11 A. M. by a Confederate minister: text 5th ch. of Mark and 
36th v. Wrote a letter to wife today. Hope she will get it. Minister's name is Dow. 

Jan. 16, 1865, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning cold and chilly, threatening 



338 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

rain. Got some boards and put them on our building today. Many ladies came on the guard 
line to look at us poor prisoners. 

Jan. 17.— Morning cold. The day pleasant. I washed ray clothes, dried them, and 
mended three chairs that were broken by foolishness. The news is good from Wilmington, 

N. C. , . . 

Jan. 18. — Morning cool, but pleasant. Received the news by a rebel paper this mormng 
of the fall of Fort Fisher (good). I spent the day in reading and learning to play chess for 
pastime. 

Jan. 19. — Morning still pleasant. I cook today. An unusual amount of business gomg 
on the railroad last night and this morning. Rebels scored nothing more of importance to- 
day. 

Jan. 20. — Morning pleasant, but cloudy. Commenced raining at 4 P. M. I have been 
a prisoner nine months today. We have a new commander. He was a prisoner in Fort 
Delaware. Took command today. 

Jan. 21, 1865, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning raining. Our tent all mud 
and water. Rained hard all night. We have suffered much today from wet and cold. Our 
bed-clothes all wet. Horrid condition for human beings to be in. 

Jan. 22. — On this holy Sabbath morning we are in as bad a condition as yesterday. 
Still cold and muddy and no wood to make fires. Remained in tent all day thinking of home. 

Jan. 23. — Morning cool and cloudy. Rained some today. I cooked. Had very good 
simple soup for breakfast and dinner. Heard today that Wilmington, N. C, was in our 
possession. 

Jan. 24. — Morning cool and clear, the day pleasant. We got boards, and went to work 
and finished our house, except the door. Put up good bunks. Heard today that fifteen 
Rebel congressmen went to Washington, D. C, to negotiate for peace. 

Jan. 25, 1865, Columbia Asylum Prison, S. C. — Morning very cold. The day cold and 
windy. Built a range for our cake plates. Put a fire in it to dry it. The night very cold. 
A lieutenant of an 111. Regt. died today in the hospital. 

Jan. 26. — Morning very cold. The day cold and windy. Suffered dreadfully all day 
with the cold. Could get no wood to make fires. Dreadful, this kind of life. 

Jan. 27. — Morning still cold. The day also cool. I cooked today. Got some boards 
to finish our building. Some dissatisfaction with Capt. Starkweather. I will have nothing 
more to do with squad. 

Jan. 28. — Morning still very cold. The day also cold and windy. I suffered much for 
the want of fire. After dark we huddled around a few coals and sang several hymns and 
then went to bed. 

Jan. 29, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning cold, but the day more pleas- 
ant than we have had for some time. Lt. Bums somewhat indisposed. I wrote a letter to 
wife. 

Jan. 30, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Heavy white frost this morning. The day 
pleasant and warm. I worked at chimney of baking range. Also washed my clothes. Let- 
ters came for many officers, but none for me. 

Jan. 31. — Morning cold. A heavy white frost. I cooked today. Played several games 
of checkers to pass away time. Considerable difference in my situation today from this day 
one year ago. The day very pleasant and warm. 

Tues., Feb. 1, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very pleasant and the 
day warm. Had a lengthy roll call lasting four hours. Received a letter from Lt. Cooper, 
12th N. Y. Cavalry. News pretty good today. 

Thurs., Feb. 2, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant. The day 
warm and part of the time cloudy. One man in camp claiming to be an officer, blacked him- 
self and passed out of the gate. The Rebels caught him and sent him back under guard 
playing the "Rogues' March." 

Fri., Feb. 3, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning warm and raining. The day wet 
and dreary. Remained in quarters all day. Heard no good news, except that the prisoners 
at Danville, Va., were paroled and sent home. 

Sat., Feb. 4, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning warm ; the day warm and 
pleasant. I cooked today. I feel somewhat under the weather. Rebels found one of our 
tunnels today. One of our men told them of it. 

Sun., Feb. 5, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning pleasant. The day 
cloudy and cooler than yesterday. Wrote a letter to wife and one to my men at Florence, 
S. C. While I am writing some of the officers are singing "Homeward Bound." It makes 
me feel sad and long to be on the way to my earthly home. 

Mon., Feb. 6, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia. S. C. — Morning cool. The day cool 
and cloudy. Very red at sunrise. Commenced raining after dark. Stayed in quarters all 
day. Played several games of chess to pass away time. 

Tues., Feb. 7, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning cold and raining. Got 
up at daylight and washed myself all over and put on clean clothes. Found it a pretty cool 
job. Rained hard all day. 



MAJ. MACKEY'S DIARY 339 

Wed., Feb. 8, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C— Morning cold, but clear. I 
cooked today. Received news in camp that Gen. Winder was dead. Much rejoicing by many 
of our officers. 

Thursday, Feb. 9, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia.— Morning cold. Got up pretty 
early and ate our mush and sorghum. Considerable rain. In quarters to keep warm. Stayed 
up until 10 o'clock P. M. 

Feb. 10, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C— Morning pleasant. Received news 
that Gen. Grant notified the Rebels that he was ready for a general exchange of all pris- 
oners. I washed my clothes today. A large washing it was. 

Feb. 11, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning very pleasant. Preaching at 
11 A. M. by Rev. Dr. Palmer; text. Acts 17 c, 31 v. He preached an excellent sermon. 
Sherman said to be within 30 miles of this place. Rebels have a train of cars ready to 
move us. 

Feb. 12, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Mornmg pleasant. I cooked today. 
Rebels much alarmed as it is rumored that Sherman is coming. They are moving their 
cattle. Preaching at 11 A. M. Text, Prov. 4th c. and 7 v. Many letters came, but none for 
me. 

Feb. 13, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning cold and chilly. The day cool 
and windy. Received notice this evening to be ready to moveby 8 A. M. tomorrow. Do 
not know where we are going. Sherman is the cause of our being moved. 

Feb. 14, 1865, Asylum Prison, Columbia, S. C. — Morning cold. Got up early. Com- 
menced packing up our things for a move. Left at 3 P. M. ; went about 30 miles ; at 7 P. M. 
got off the cars. Went back a short distance, then took to the woods. The night was dark 
and raining. We wandered about for some time and then lay dovra. Rained and sleeted 
all night. 

Feb. 15, 1865, In Woods near Charlotte R. R. — Morning cold. Still raining. Wan- 
dered about for some time and lay down until dark, then started and went to the railroad 
and lay there until 9 P. M. Traveled about two miles and stopped at a negro's named John; 
found him all right. Got a good supper for us and gave us some grub in our haversacks ; 
then took us to a hiding place at 3 A. M. 

Thursday, Feb. 16, 1865, In Woods, S. C. — Woke up at 11 A. M. Morning cold. 
Washed and ate some grub. Cleared off at 12 M. Sun came out beautifully. We dried our 
clothes and stayed in the woods until 9 P. M., when John came with more grub. Got John 
to go with us to put us on the right track. Took a southeast direction. Marched 12 miles 
by 5 A. M. Came to David A. D.'s ; then to our resting place in the woods 16 miles N. . W. 
of Camden, S. G. Came very near being caught while traveling near the R. R. 

Feb. 17, 1865, 18 Mi. N. W. of Camden, S. C— Morning pleasant. At 8 A. M., D. 
brought us a good breakfast and to help us on our wanderings took a good bath. Read 
my bible and slept until 7 P. M., when D. came with more grub, took us up to his house and 
gave us a good supper. He, with others, advised us to lie over, which we did and came back 
to our hiding place. 

Sat., Feb. 18, 1865. — Morning cool. Woke up early. Same place that we stayed yester- 
day. At 9 A. M., David brought us breakfast. This morning I finished reading the New 
Testament. Two or three times since I was taken a prisoner. Stayed all day in woods. 
After dark David brought us supper and fetched three other darkeys with him. 

Sun., Feb. 19. — Woke up same plave. Morning cool. At 9 A. M. David brought us 
breakfast and gave us good news. About 10 A. M. old DuCane told us that Sherman was 
within a few miles of us. We felt good, but were betrayed by the old dark\' woman and 
at 6 P. M. were surrounded by Hampton's cavalry and recaptured. They took my cape and 
haversack and the others' overcoats. Marched us eight miles to the Peas farm and en- 
camped us. They took David with us and threatened to kill him. 

Mon., Feb. 20. — Morning cool and day pleasant. They commenced marching at day- 
light. Got to Winnsboro at 1 P. M., 17 miles running. They marched us to Youngsville, 
16 miles, while the cavalry were skedadling. When we got out of one end of Winnsboro, 
Sherman came in at the other. Rebels gave us no rations. Awful treatment. [For one 
week here, no record of events was kept.] 

March 1, 1865, 10 miles of Wilmington and four miles of point of exchange. — Morning 
cold and windy. Left at 8 A. M. ; at 10 A. M. we passed into our line, the happiest day of 
our lives. Our forces received us with great rejoicing. We arrived at Wilmington at 4 P". M. 

March 2, Wilmington, N. C. — Woke up in the city court house after a refreshing night's . 
sleep within our owp lines. At 10 A. M. we left Wilmington, and at 2 P. M. anchored off 
Ft. Fisher and remained there during the night. 

Fri.,- March 3, Fort Fisher. — Morning pleasant. Got up early, washed myself all over. 
Feel somewhat sick at my stomach. Passed over the bar at Fort Fisher at 12 M. Vessel 
struck the bottom in going over. Got quite sea sick; threw up. 

Sat., March 4, on the Briny Deep. — Morning cool. Sea rough. Felt sick all day. 
Passed Cape Hatteras at 3 A. M. Entered Chesapeake Bay at 10 P. Ml Very many officers 
sea sick. Made good time today. 



340 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Sun., March 5., Chesapeake Bay near Pt. Lookout.— Morning cool and clear. Feel much 
better. At 4 P. M. arrived at Annapolis, Md. Quartered at the National Hotel ; got new 
clothing, put them on, then went to church. 

Mar. 6, 1865, Annapolis, Md.— Got up early. Bought a pair of boots at $9 and got 
shaved. Ate 'breakfast and went to hospital building. Met with Lt. McNary. Wrote letter 
to wife and to H. A. Thompson. I walked around the city the rest of the day. 

Mar. 8, 1865, Annapolis, Md.— Got up early. After breakfast went to headquarters; 
then to hospital; then to camp parole. Saw several of my company. Bought an overcoat. 
Came back to city at 6 P. M. Met the balance of our officers, who had just landed. 

Wed., Mar. 8, 1865, Annapolis, Md.— Morning pleasant. Through mistake had to put 
in a new application for leave of absence. Exchanged overcoats. Commenced raining this 
afternoon. Rained all night. 

Thurs., Mar. 9, 1865, Annapolis. — Morning still raining. Cleared off at noon. Sammy 
Rodgers landed this morning. I went with others to parole camp at 2 :20 P. M. Saw most 
of my men and many of the regiment. 

Fri., Mar. 10, 1865, Annapolis, Md. — Morning cold and windy. Went to the wharf at 
2 P. M. The steamer California landed with prisoners. Dreadful sight to see the poor 
fellows get off the boat and to see fathers and mothers watching for and embracing their 
sons when they found them. I could not refrain from tears myself. Went to the Pres- 
byterian church in the evening. 

Sat., Mar. 11, 1865, Annapolis, Md.— Morning cool but the day pleasant. Nothing of 
importance transpiring today. In the evening went to the Capitol. A fine architectural 
building. 

Sun., Mar. 12, Annapolis, Md. — Morning pleasant. Went to Presbyterian Sabbath 
school. Taught a class of small boys. One the picture of Frank. Attended church at 11 
A. M. Heard a good sermon by the Rev. I. M. Patterson; text, 84th Psalm, 6th verse; at 
night, Luke 18 chap., 13th verse. 

Mon., May. 13. 1865, Annapolis, Md.— Morning beautiful and day pleasant. Went to 
camp parole in the afternoon. Saw many of my men. Saw a letter from Charles to Orcutt. 
Many officers received their leaves. None yet for me. Feel very sad to think that I am 
kept here so long. 

March 14, Annapolis, Md. — Morning pleasant. 



REGIMENTAL HISTORIES PROMOTED BY THE STATE. 

"In a letter to President Lincoln under date of March 4, 1864, (O. R. Ser. 1, Vol. 
XXXIII, p. 637.) Gov. A. G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania said: 

"Measures are being taken in this State to preserve the history of our regiments. 
* * * The citizens in every part of the State feel proud of their regiments, and the men 
in the field are encouraged by this system. To have belonged to a particular regiment and to 
have the exploits of that regiment recorded is the only mode in which private soldiers can 
have the opportunity of being appreciated at home." 

These measures, however, were not made practical until 1903, when the General As- 
sembly of the State passed an act authorizing the purchase of the history of any military 
organization, "under the sanction and authority of its proper veteran organization, which 
history shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Governor, Auditor-General and Adjutant 
General, so far as it is practicable in such works faithfully and accurately prepared and 
historically correct, to be of sufficient reliability and importance to justify the purchase of 
copies as herein provided for, and to contain a complete roster of the organization, cor- 
rected to the date of publication, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with the approval 
of the Governor, Auditor General and Adjutant General, and at a price fixed by them, shall 
purchase four hundred copies of such history, the price thereof not to exceed two dollars 
per copy." Provision is made in the act for the distribution of these volumes as follows: 
"One copy to the office of the Secretary of the Commonweath, one to the office of the Ad- 
jutant General, one to the library of each college in the State, one to each Historical Society 
in the State, one to the Library of Congress, and one to the library of each State and Ter- 
ritory of the Union ; the balance to be placed in the State Library of Pennsylvania, for the 
purpose of exchange." 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 341 

OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. WM. H. KEIM. 

Headquarters, Keim's Brigade, 
Casey's Division, Williamsburg, Va., May 8. 1862. 
Captain : Owing to severe indisposition, I followed my brigade slowly, it being in 
temporary command of Col. Howell on May 5th. When I arrived the 85th Regiment Penna. 
Vols, was in front; then the 103rd Regiment Penna. Vols., Maj. Gazzam commanding; next 
the 101st Regiment Penna. Vols., Col. Wilson. The 96th Regiment New York Vols., Lieut. 
Col. Gray commanding, had been ordered by Gen. Sumner to protect the 8th New York 
battery, and afterwards the regular battery of Robertson. The brigade advanced to the 
support of Gen. Palmer's brigade. The 8oth Regiment Penna. Vols., Col. Howell, was in 
advance of Gen. Palmer's brigade over the fence into the woods under a brisk fire of the 
enemy. At that time, when the fire was hot and heaviest, Gen. Keyes rode up and addressed 
my brigade a few spirit-stirring remarks, who heartily cheered the general and resumed the 
work of destruction with more zeal. 

Gen. Palmer being called off, I assumed command of the 92nd (Col. Anderson's), 
and the 93rd (Lieut. Col. Butler's), Regiments New York Vols. I ordered Col. Howell to 
the front to relieve the 93rd Regiment Penna. Vols., who immediately encountered a sweep- 
ing fire, which was returned with spirit and effect. The 101st Regiment Penna. Vols., Col. 
Wilson, I ordered to the left of the clearing across the road as a reserve. The 'l03rd 
Regiment Penna. Vols., Maj. Gazzam commanding, was also ordered to the front, to support 
Gen. Peck. I was assigned the command of the left, Gen. Peck the center, and Gen. Devens 
the right. About 5 :30 the musketry iire had nearly ceased, the battery in front keeping up 
its fire until dark, two hours afterward. Taking into consideration that the men had only 
one day's rations since Sunday morning, no overcoats, woolen or gum blankets, they evinced 
a spirit of endurance and heroic courage worthy of veterans, and the men and officers arc 
entitled to praise for their arduous and successful efforts. The troops remained under 
arms all night, rainy and unpleasant. I was with Gen. Peck and Couch during the 
night. Sounds were heard of cutting wood, and commands were given to "forward march," 
which induced a belief that the enemy were about evacuating. At daybreak I ordered a 
company of Col. Howell's regiment to reconnoitre toward the fort. Everything appeared 
quiet when some cavalry from Williamsburg rode downward into the fort, so they with- 
drew. After the cavalry left the fort the effort was renewed and we were steadily advancing 
when Gen. Heintzelman rode up and ordered my men back. He entered the deserted forts 
first which my brigade had aided materially to conquer. My staff officers, Capt. N. Li 
Jeffries, Assistant Adjutant General, and Lieut. Stewart, Jr., Aide-de-Camp, rendered me 
efficient aid. 

The state of my health must be the apology for this imperfect report. * * * 

Respectfully submitted : 
Captain Henry W. Smith, Wm. H. Kjcim, 

Assistant Adjutant General, Casey's Division, Brigadier-General Com'mandinc: 

(O. R., Series I, Vol. XI, part 1, page 561.) 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. SILAS CASEY. 
Headquarters, Casey's Division, Near Williamsburg, May 8, 1862. 

Captain : I have the honor to report that on Sunday, the 4th inst., I received notice 
from the general commanding the Fourth Corps that the enemy were supposed to be 
evacuating the line on our front. I immediately ordered my division under arms, with one 
day's rations in their haversacks. I advanced to the front, the First Brigade, Gen. Naglee, 
in advance. I advanced with care at first, but soon ascertained that the enemy had evacuated 
the forts in my front, into which I immediately directed my division to move. The rebels 
had buried a number of torpedoes in the road leading to their works, one of which exploded 
and killed one and wounded six men of the 52nd Penna. Vols. ♦ * * 

It was raining hard at the time and the men were without shelter tents or blankets. 
About one o'clock P. M., I was ordered by Gen. Keyes to advance to the front and while 
making my preparations so to do I was directed by Gen. Sumner to move to the support of 
Gen. Hooker, on the left. I immediately formed my division and moved off with the First 
Brigade leading and gave directions for the other brigades to follow. After proceeding 
three miles I was overtaken by an express, directing me to obey the first order from Gen. 
Keyes. I immediately countermarched and returned as quickly as possible. 

In the meantime the troops of my division in my rear, with the exception of the 104th 
Penna. Vols., had been sent to the front, as I ascertained by the order of Gen. Keyes. Soon 
after arriving in front, Gen. McClellan came up and directed me to proceed with my division 
to sustain Gen. Hancock on the right, who was reported to be in a very precarious situation. 



342 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

The Second and Third Brigades of my division had been placed toward the left of 
the line previous to my arrival, but at what point I was unable to ascertain. * * * 

The Second and Third Brigades, as will be seen by the inclosed reports of their 
commandmants, did good service on the left, and I have good reason to believe that the 
opportune arrival of the First Brigade saved Gen. Hancock from a probable severe disaster. 
The officers and men of the division behaved in a very creditable manner, and I know from 
personal observation that the First Brigade under Gen. Naglee was formed as a sustaining 
force in a prompt and skillful manner. The staff officers of my division performed their 
duties promptly and satisfactorily. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Silas Casey, 

Brig. Gen. Commanding Third Division 4th Army Corps. 
Capt. C. C. Suydam, 

Asst. Adjt. Gen'I 4th Army Corps. 
(O. R. Series I, Vol. XI, part 1, page 557.) 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. E. D. KEYES. 

Headquarters Fourth Army Corps, 
New Kent Court House, Va., May 14, 1862. 

"During an hour and a half Peck's brigade, * * * continued to stand its ground 
alone against the furious onslaught of the enemy, inflicting great loss upon the rebels, and 
suffering comparatively little itself, owing to Gen. Peck's admirable disposition of his forces. 
Towards night he was re-enforced by the 7th Mass., * * * 2d R. I. * * * and three 
regiments, the 85th Penna., Col. Howell, 101st Penna., Col. Wilson, and 103d Penna., Maj. 
Gazzam, of Keim's brigade, all from Casey's division. Gen. Peck speaks well of the services 
of those regiments, and when the ammunition of his own men was exhausted he relieved 
them with six of these fresh regiments, who held the position during the night. Gen. Devens 
commanding on the left and Gen. Keim upon the right." 

"The battle of Williamsburg has demonstrated the effect of organization, military 
discipline, and instruction upon the Army of the Potomac. The troops met the enemy with 
perfect steadiness, and delivered their fire with an effect which the prisoners captured 
describe as most deadly. But the courage and skill of the troops are much less to be won- 
dered at than the good temper and fortitude with which they have borne hardships — 
exposure to mud, rain, and hunger — during the battle, before and after it. These qualities, 
according to Napoleon, are more essential to the character of a soldier than courage itself." 
Brig. Gen. S. Williams, E. D. Keyes, 

Adjt. Gen. Army of the Potomac. Brig. Gen. Commanding Fourth Corps. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, pp. 513-516.) 

EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. JOHN J. PECK. 

"Col. J. H. Wilson (101st Penna.) and Maj. Gazzam, of. the 103d Penna. Vols., were 
very efficient, and only needed a renewal of the action to exhibit their soldiership." (O. R. 
Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 1, p. 522.) 

ASSIGNMENT OF BRIG. GEN. WESSELLS TO COMMAND 2D BRIGADE. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 

Camp Near Cold Harbor, May 24, 1862. 
Special Orders No. 156. * * * VI. Brig. Gen. H. W. Wessells, when relieved by 
Brig. Gen. Abercrombic, will report to Brig. Gen. Silas Casey for the command of the 
brigade of his division lately commanded by Brig. Gen. William H. Keim. * * » 
By command Maj. Gen. McClellan. 

S. WiLUAMS, 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 3, p. 191.) Assistant Adjutant General. 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. SILAS CASEY ON LOSS OF TROOPS. 

Headquarters Casey's Division, 

At Seven Pines. May 28, 1862. 

Captain : In accordance with the directions of the general commanding the Fourth 
Corps dc Armee, I shall proceed to give a few reasons for what, in my opinion is the cause 
of the great loss of men in my division since its organization in Washington. * * * 
Not being permitted to take any transportation from Alexandria down the river, on en- 
camping about two miles from Newport News I found myself without any means to trans- 
port supplies for the men; that duty, for several days, was performed by the men. After 
waiting about two weeks I managed by great efforts to obtain an insufficient supply of 
transportation, the animals having been evidently culled over several times. 

In advancing to Williamsburg the roads were in such bad condition that I found 
it exceedingly difficult to keep the troops from starvation. From the orders which I 
received most of my division was separated from their knapsacks and shelter tents for 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 343 

several days. The exposure to the miasma of the Peninsula was a great source of sickness. 
* * * In short, I attribute one-half of the loss to the following causes : 

1. The imperfect brigade organization. 

2. Eight of the regiments being entirely new at the time of taking the field. 

3. The incompetency and inefiaciency of some of the medical, field and company 
officers, and insufficiency of medical supplies. 

4. Mismanagement in logistics. 

The other half of the loss I attribute to sickness from unavoidable causes. * * • 

Silas Casey, 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XI, part III, pp. 197-198.) Brigadier General. 

SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES. 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. H. W. WESSELLS. 

Second Brigade, Peck's Division, 
Camp Near Harrison's Landing, Va., July 12, 1862. 
Sir: In compliance with instructions of yesterday I have the honor to report the 
movements of this brigade since the 24th ultimo, at which date it was encamped at Poplar 
Hill, and composed of the 85th, 92d, and 96th New York Vols., the 85th, 101st, and 103d 
Pcnna. Vols., with the 81st and 98th New York Vols, temporarily attached. Having pre- 
pared that camp for defense at the crossings of White Oak Swamp by extensive slashings 
and rifle pits the brigade moved from its position across the White Oak Swamp on the 
28th of June, and bivouacked same day on the Charles City road near the place known as 
the 'Blacksmith's Shop.' 

On the following day, at sundown, the movement in this direction was resumed on 
a cross-road, accompannied by Regan's and Morgan's batteries, arriving early on the 
morning of the 30th at the farther side of the large opening near Haxall's Landing, ajid 
in the evening of that day crossed the open plain or field and encamped on this side of the 
clearing. 

On the day following the brigade changed position, being placed in line of battle 
and for defense near the road to Harrison's Landing and on the high ground at this 
extremity of the large plain referred to, on which were parked the several wagon trains 
of the army. The march of the several corps of the army, with their artillery and wagon 
trains, was commenced during the night, and all passed the point occupied by this brigade 
at about 10 o'clock on the morning of July 2, the rear being handsomely covered thus far 
by Averell's cavalry and Buchanan's brigade of regular troops. 

Averell's command then moved forward, my own brigade shortly following, and the 
85th New York Vols, was detailed as a rear guard for the wagons. As it had now rained 
for some hours the condition of the road (cut up by such a multitude of wheels), began 
to be difficult, and the movement was very slow. At a mile and a half I passed Naglee's 
brigade, of the same division, which in turn fell in rear. Having halted my brigade in the 
field near this camp it was passed by Naglee's brigade, he moving to the side of the creek, 
now forming a portion of the front of our present position. The crossing was here very 
difficult, but one wagon passing at a time, and the number had accumulated to near a 
thousand. The rear guard was followed up by a force of the enemy, consisting of cavalry, 
infantry, and two pieces of artillery. Some skirmishing ensued, without loss, except two men 
missing from the 85th, and the infantry, supported by Gregg's cavalry, retired to the vicinity 
of the wagon train. Miller's battery, of four brass pieces, joined the brigade before the 
commencement of the march. 

It being found impracticable to cross the wagons that night I was directed to remain 
as a guard, and at once placed the several regiments in the best position for defense, under 
the immediate supervision of the commanding officer of the division. Two shots were 
fired into the plain from the enemy's field guns, but were silenced by a few rounds from 
one of the gunboats. The rain continued most of the night and several hundred wagons 
remained on the following morning. Additional bridges were finally constructed and the 
movement was considerably accelerated, so that by about 6 o'clock P. M., all the wagons had 
passed. During the day I was re-enforced by the 104th Penna. Vols, and 56th New York 
Vols. Gregg's cavalry remained until the last and performed most efficient service, and 
to the colonel himself I am indebted for active assistance during the arduous and trying 
labor attending on this movement. 

The train of wagons having crossed, was followed by Miller's battery, with the 
56th and 81st New York Vols., all taking position in line on this side of the creek indicated 
by Gen. Peck, who was indefatigable in his personal exertions to preserve order and 
provide security in this delicate movement. The 92d New York Vols, and 104th Penna. 
Vols, then crossed, and were placed in position like the others. They in turn were fol- 
lowed by the 85th and 101st Penna. Vols, at a suitable interval, the 98th New York Vols, 
in their rear. 

The 103d Penna. Vols, and 96th New York Vols, also crossed in turn, the 85th New 



344 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

York Vols, being left as a rear guard. The outposts still remained in position, a cavalry 
company being stationed on the road and at the opening of the woods in rear of the camp. 
It was now about 10 o'clock P. M. ; the pickets were carefully withdrawn, and the rear guard 
completed the crossing without the slightest accident at about 11 o'clock, and the whole 
brigade in line of battle facing the rear. 

On the following morning the camp was marked out, and the brigade proceeded to 
strengthen its position by the construction of rifle pits, slashing timber with epaulements for 
artillery, and is now ready to receive the enemy. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. W. WESSELLS, 
Capt. W. H. Morris, Brigadier-General Volunteers, Commanding. 

Asst. Adjt.-Gen. Peck's Division. 

(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XI, part 2, pages 220-21.) 

EXTR.\CT FROM REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. E. D. KEYES. 
From the official report of Gen. Keyes commanding the 4th Corps : 

The troops composing the rear guard were arranged as follows : Wessclls' brigade, 
with Miller's and one section of McCarthy's batteries, all under immediate command of 
Brig. Gen. Peck, commanding division, were formed in line of battle, faced to the rear, on 
the hill overlooking Haxall's vast farm and in the woods across the roads coming in from 
the direction of White Oak Swamp. Upon all these roads cavalry scouts were kept in 
constant motion. Half a mile below Peck's position Col. Farnsworth's regiment, the 8th 
Illinois Cavalry, was drawn up in line of battle, faced also to the rear, and still a mile farther 
on Naglee's brigade and several batteries under Maj. West were formed in line of battle on 
the brow of a ridge. All these arrangements were made before daylight, and the extremities 
of the lines of battle concealed in the woods or by the inequalities of the ground, so as to 
confuse the enemy in regard to our numbers. The 8th Penna. Cavalry, under Col. Gregg, 
was ordered to accompany me, to act as circumstances might dictate. The columns of in- 
fantry moved in the fields parallel to the double line of wagons in the main road. The men 
were kept in the ranks, and the ranks and teams closed up, so that the army never presented 
a more formidable appearance nor had it before been so much massed and in so good a 
situation to repel an attack, which was threatened, but not made, during the march of our 
columns. * * * Brig. Gen. Wessells with his brigade, assisted by Miller's battery and a 
party of Gregg's cavalry, remained to guard the wagons and to. defend them against the 
enemy, approaching with cavalry and artillery. After firing a few shells the enemy left upon 
being saluted with a few 100-pounders from the gun boats. I do not think more vehicles or 
more public property was abandoned on the march from Turkey Bridge than would have 
been left in the same state of the roads if the army had been moving toward the enemy 
instead of away from him; and when it is understood that all the carriages and teams be- 
longing to the army stretched out in one line would extend not far from 40 miles, the energy 
and caution necessary for their safe withdrawal from the presence of an enemy vastly supe- 
rior in numbers will be appreciated. (O. R. Ser. I, Vol XI, part II, pp. 194-195.) 

From the report of Gen. Peck commanding the division: 

At 1 :30 A. M. I was in my saddle, aiding Gen. Wessells in forming his line of battle 
on the heights a short distance this side of the headquarters of Gen. McClellan. * ♦ * 
Naglee's brigade was formed about a mile in the rear in a commanding position. * ♦ * 
About 12 o'clock M. Col. Averell passed by with his fine command, bringing up everything 
from the direction of Turkey Creek in excellent order and time. As every command, 
ambulance, wagon and straggler had gone by the rear guard, I directed Gen. Wessells to 
draw in his pickets and detachments, and move on and take up a new position in rear of 
Gen. Naglee. About 5 o'clock P. M. it was evident that, owing to the terrible condition of 
the roads, the whole country being flooded with water, which had poured down upon the 
clay soil uninterruptedly since early in the morning, the train could not reach its destination 
that night, and without protection would fall in the hands of the enemy, rapidly advancing. 
I placed Wessells' brigade in position on the other side of Kimmager's [or Kimminger's?] 
Creek, with Miller's battery and seven small companies of cavalry. The brigade of Naglee, 
he being unwell, was placed in supporting distance this side of the creek. Soon after the 
enemy opened with artillery upon the train for the purpose of creating confusion and stam- 
peding the animals. Two additional regiments were sent to reinforce Gen. Wessells. Judi- 
cious dispositions were made by him, and every step taken to keep the train of wagons 
moving through the night across the creek. 

At daylight on the 3d the crossings of the stream were well nigh impassable, the rain 
having continued throughout the night. * * * The enemy's pickets were around us and 
his advance column not far distant, doubtless held in check by the fire of the gunboats. The 
work proceeded slowly but surely through the day, and at 7 o'clock P. M. on the 3d I had 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 345 

the proud satisfaction of reporting, for the information of the headquarters, Army of the 
Potomac, that the last vehicle had passed the creek. The opinion is ventured that the his- 
tory of military operations affords no instance where a train of like magnitude and value 
was moved so great a distance in the presence of the enemy, and in face of so many mate- 
rial obstacles, with so trifling a loss. * * * 

Gen. Wessells has labored most faithfully night and day since I joined the division 
and displayed the greatest interest in the service under very critical circumstances. In the 
midst of difficulties and dangers his judgment seemed most reliable." (0. R. Ser. I. Vol. 
XI, part II, pp. 218-219.) 

CONGRATULATORY FROM BRIG. GEN. PECK. 

Headquarters Peck's Division, July 14, 1862. 

General Orders No. 7: The general commanding the division returns his warmest 
thanks to the officers and men of his command for the cheerful and intelligent manner in 
which "they discharged their numerous duties, and for the zeal and fidelity which they dis- 
played during the recent critical operations of the army. You, when intrusted with the gen- 
eral defense of the Chickahominy below the railway, with the guarding of the immense 
fords, and the destruction of all the bridges in the face of Jackson's columns. White Oak 
Swamp, crossing the left flank of the Army, was placed under your protection, together with 
the road to James River through the Swamp, which you were ordered to hold at all hazard. 
Reinforced by Palmer's brigade of Couch's division you commenced the grand flank move- 
ment on the morning of the 28th of June, crossing the White Oak Swamp, and taking a 
position some 4 miles in the direction of Richmond, covering the junction of the Charles 
City, New Market, Quaker and other important roads. This advanced and hazardous point 
you 'held, with Couch's division, in spite of Wise's charge, during two long and trying days, 
when in conjunction with the commands of Couch and Porter you took the advance to James 
River. 

The last great movement began at 1 o'clock a. m. on the 2d of July, and ended at 7 p. m. 
on the 3d by your arrival at Harrison's Point, as the rear guard, with the immense train of 
the Army, in safety, in spite of the elements and the enemy. All these duties were most 
honorable and responsible, and the division general trusts that the commanding general will 
be pleased to inscribe upon your banners the following names : Chickahominy Swamps, Rail- 
road Bridge, Bottom's Bridge, Long Bridge, Jones' Ford, Charles City Cross Roads and 
Harrison Point. * * * 

By order of Brig. Gen. Peck. Wm. H. Morris, Capt. and A. A. G. 

GOLDSBORO EXPEDITION. 
REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. H. W. WESSELLS. 

Headquarters Third Brigade, Peck's Division. 
New Bern, N. C, December 22, 1862. 
Major: I have the honor to report that pursuant to instructions from Maj.-Gen. Peck 
I left Camp Suffolk, Va., on the 5th instant with my brigade, composed of the 85th, 92d and 
96th New York and 85th, 101st and 103d Penna. Vols., under orders to proceed to New Ferry, 
on the Chowan, near Gatesville, there to report to the commanding officer of the Department 
of North Carolina. My command arrived at the point designated on the 6th instant, where it 
was met by Maj.-Gen. Foster with transports for the brigade. The troops embarked on the 
following day, arriving at this station on the 9th. An expedition having been planned and 
organized to move in the direction of Goldsborough the column was put in motion on the 
morning of the 11th, the advance taken by Heckman's 9th New Jersey Vols., followed by my 
own brigade, to which was attached Morrison's battery, 3d New York Artillery. 

No serious obstacles were interposed by the enemy until arriving at Southwest Branch, 
6 miles from the town of Kinston, where it was found the main road crossing the creek was 
well watched and strongly guarded both by artillery and infantry. A skillful feint having 
been made toward this point, the main body moved by an upper road, crossing the creek 
about half a mile below on a mill-dam. The bridge was found to be partially destroyed and 
the enemy covering it with two guns and a force of infantry. 

This position was at once reconnoitered by the 9th New Jersey Vols, with their usual 
intrepidity, and a crossing was effected by the mill, threatening the enemy's right. At the 
same time, by direction of the commanding general, I detached the 85th Penna. Vols., Col. 
Howell, with orders to force a passage below the bridge, by felling trees or fording, and 
engage him on the right. This difficult duty was handsomely performed. Howell's skirmish- 
ers, led by Capts. Hooker and Phillips, pushed boldly through the swamp, engaged the 
enemy's battery under a shower of grape, and by a well directed fire of musketry drove the 
cannoneers from the ground, and Heckman's advance appearing simultaneously from the 
left the enemy fled, leaving one of his guns in our possession. The brigade in the meantime 
crossed at the mill, and being joined by the 23d Mass. Vols, moved forward about three 



346 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

miles and bivouacked for the night, the 9th New Jersey Vols, with Morrison's battery taking 
up a position about one mile in advance. 

On the following day (Dec. 14) the line of march was resumed at an early hour and 
in the usual order. Heckman's skirmishers were soon engaged with the enemy's outposts, 
and to support him I directed the 85th Penna. Vols, to move through the wood on the left of 
the road with a view to act against the enemy's right. A section of Morrison's battery was 
also ordered forward, supported by the 103d Penna. Vols., Lieut.-Col. Maxwell, with direc- 
tions to take a suitable position and open fire. 

The 85th New York, Lieut.-Col. Wellman, was then thrown forward and to the right 
of the road, with instructions to engage the enemy on the flank and press him vigorously 
toward the left. This regiment was soon followed by the 101st Penna. Vols., Maj. Taylor, 
and the 96th New York Vols., Col. Gray, with similar orders. In the meantime, being in- 
formed that a portion of the 9th New Jersey Vols, were failing in ammunition, I directed the 
92d New York Vols., Col. Hunt, to move down the road to relieve or support Col. Heckman, 
as circumstances might require. All these movements were executed by the several regi- 
ments with alacrity and precision, deserving the highest praise. My whole brigade was now 
in position before the enemy's line; the firing was heavy and almost incessant; the wounded 
were being rapidly brought to the rear, and the enemy, concealed by the wood and posted 
behind an almost impasssable swamp, maintained his position with stubborn obstinacy. At 
that time, and on my application to the major-general commanding, I was reinforced in suc- 
cession by the 17th, 23d, and 45th Mass. Vols. These fine regiments took their positions with 
the coolness and precision of veterans, and the whole line was then directed to advance and 
push the enemy at every point. The major-general commanding having arrived on the 
ground made further disposition of the troops and conducted the affair to a rapid and suc- 
cessful termination. 

Under my orders to advance, the whole brigade, supported on the left by other regi- 
ments, moved gradually forward, converging toward the enemy's line of retreat, driving him 
from the church and throwing him back toward the bridge, over which the main body es- 
caped, leaving several hundred prisoners in our hands. 

The retreat of the enemy was closely followed by the 85th and 103d Penna. Vols, on 
the left (the latter suffering severely in crossing the open field), while the 96th and 85th 
New York and 101st Penna. Vols, charged from the right; the 92d moved along the rtsad in 
support of the battery. The bridge was fired in several places by the enemy and exposed to 
a destructive fire of artillery and musketry from the opposite bank, but every regiment, in- 
cluding those from other brigades, seemed to vie with each other in emulation, and pressed 
forward with unflinching determination. 

That gallant officer. Col. Gray, 96th New York Vols., with his face to the foe and the 
colors of his regiment first on the bridge, fell mortally wounded in the hour of victory. 

The flames were extinguished without serious injury to the bridge, and my brigade 
being reformed on the opposite bank of the river continued its march through the village of 
Kinston and bivouacked for the night on the Goldsborough road. 

The steadiness of the troops during this short conflict gave me full confidence of 
success, and the conduct both of officers and men, with rare exceptions, merits the highest 
praise. For special acts of gallantry and good conduct I have the honor to refer you to the 
reports of regimental commanders herewith enclosed. Capt. Stewart, assistant adjutant 
general ; Capts. Webster and Hall, brigade quartermaster and commissary, and my aides, 
Lieuts. Beegle and Foot, rendered most important service. My orders were conveyed by these 
officers to every part of the field in the thickest of the fight with the most gratifying coolness 
and intelligence. Acting Brigade Surgeon Rush also deserves the highest commendation for 
the prompt and efficient manner in which the onerous duties of his department were con- 
ducted. 

A list of casualties accompanies this report. 

My brigade, having recrosscd the Neuse, accompanied the expedition towards Golds- 
borough, and its object having been fully accomplished by the destruction of the railway and 
bridge, the whole command returned to this station, arriving at New Bern on the 21st in- 
stant. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, tt -irr WFSSFT LS 

Maj. Southard Hoffman, Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding. 

Assistant Adjutant General, Dept. of North Carolina. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, pages 95-96-97.) 

REPORT OF MAJ. GEN. FOSTER. 

Hdqrs. Dept. of North Carolina, New Bern, N. C, December 27, 1862. 

General : Referring to my letters of December 10, 14 and 20, I have the honor to 
report that I left this town at 8 a. m. of the 11th with the following forces: 

Gen. Wessell's brigade of Gen. Peck's division (kindly loaned to me), Col. Amorys 
brigade, Col. Stevenson's brigade, Col. Lee's brigade — in all about 10,000 infantry; six bat- 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 347 

teries 3d New York Artillery, 30 guns; Belger's battery 1st Rhode Island Artillery, 6 guns; 
section of 24th New York Independent Battery, 2 guns ; section of 23d New York Indepen- 
dent Battery, 2 guns — total, 40 guns; the 3d New York Cavalry, about 640 men. 

We marched the first day on the main Kinston road about 14 miles, when, finding the 
road obstructed by felled trees for half a mile and over, I bivouacked for the night, and had 
the obstructions removed during the night by the pioneers. 

1 pushed on the next morning at daylight. My cavalry advance encountered the enemy 
when about four miles from the bivouac of the previous night, and after a sharp but brief 
skirmish" the enemy were routed with some loss. On arriving at the Vine Swamp road I 
ordered Capt. Hall, with three companies of cavalry, to push on up the main Kinston road 
as a demonstration, while the main column proceeded by the Vine Swamp road to the left, 
thereby avoiding the obstructions and the enemy on the main road. Capt. Hall encountered 
the enemy in some force, but after a severe fight whipped them, taking eighteen prisoners and 
killing a numbr. The march of the main column was somewhat delayed by the bridge over 
Beaver Creek being destroyed. This was rebuilt and I pushed on, leaving a regiment (51st 
Mass.) and a section of artillery (23d New York) at the bridge to hold it and to protect the 
intersection of the main road and the road I was on, to support Capt. Hall, and to prevent 
any force driving him back and occupying the cross roads in the rear. The main column 
pushed on about four miles and bivouacked for the night. There was some cavalry skirmish- 
ing during the day. 

On Saturday, the 13th, we again started, leaving- the second main road, the one I was 
on, to the right, and leaving at this intersection the 46th Mass. and one section of artillery 
(24th New York) to hold the position, and feint on the second main road. We reached 
Southwest Creek, the bridge over which was destroyed, and the enemy posted on the oppo- 
site bank, some 400 strong, with three pieces of artillery. The creek was not fordable, and 
ran at the foot of a deep ravine, making a very bad position for us. I ordered a battery in 
as good a position as could be obtained, and under their fire the 9th New Jersey, which had 
the advance, pushed gallantly across the creek by swimming, by fragments of the bridge and 
by a mill-dam, and formed on the opposite bank. At the same time the 85th Penna., of Gen. 
Wessells' brigade, forced a passage by the felling of trees and fording about half a mile 
below the bridge, and engaged the enemy's left, who thereupon retired and dserted his 
breastworks. I had ordered the 23d Mass., of Col. Amory's brigade, to cross at the mill to 
support the 9th New Jersey, and also crossed the remainder of Gen. Wessell's brigade. Col. 
Heckman, with the 9th New Jersey, advanced and was fired upon, when about one mile from 
the creek, with canister and musketry. The regiment charged at double quick, drove th« 
€nemy, took some prisoners, and captured a six pounder gun, caisson, etc., complete. 
Gen. Wessells bivouacked on the farther side of the creek with the 9th in the advance. The 
balance of the command, with the artillery, remained on this side of the creek. The 9th 
New Jersey; Co. K, 3d New York Cavalry, and Morrison's battery, 3d New York Artillery, 
had quite a skirmish with the enemy, but drove him and encamped for the night. From the 
south side of the creek I sent a company of cavalry to strike and proceed up the Kinston 
road. No. 2 (I was on No. 3). The company proceeded up the road toward Kinston, and 
found the enemy posted by a bridge, which was prepared to be destroyed. The company 
charged them, and they retired with some loss, destroying the bridge. The enemy's force at 
this place was estimated at one regiment and four pieces of artillery. Maj. Garrard, with 
three companies of cavalry and one gun of Allis' section of artillery, proceeded on a 
reconnaissance on a road leading to White Hall. After following this road about 10 miles, 
and having met with no opposition, they rejoined the main column. 

Sunday, the 14th instant, I advanced the column, and when about 1 mile from 
Kinston encountered the enemy in strong force. They were posted in strong position in 
the wood, taking advantage of the ground, which formed a natural breastwork. Their posi- 
tion was secured on their right by a deep swamp and their left was partially protected 
by the river. The 9th New Jersey was deployed as skirmishers, and Gen. Wessells' brigade, 
with Morrison's battery, 3d New York Artillery, was ordered to advance to the right and 
left of the road, the battery being sent to our extreme right supported by one of Gen. 
Wessells' regiments. Col. Amory's brigade was then advanced, the 17th Mass. Vols, being 
sent to support Col. Heckman on the right, and two regiments (23d and 45th Mass.) advanced 
up the road. My artillery (three batteries) I posted in a large field on the right of the 
road and about three-fourths of a mile in rear of our line of attack, the only position they 
could be placed in. I then ordered Col. Stevenson's brigade, with Belger's Rhode Island 
battery, forward. The 24th Mass. supported this battery, and the 5th Rhode Island, 10th 
Conn., and 44th Mass. were ordered forward, the two former on the left of the road and the 
latter on the right, to support the regiments, therein pushing the enemy and turning that 
flank. 

The 10th Conn, advanced steadily to the extreme front, relieving two of Wessells' 
brigade, which were short of ammunition, and after receiving a terrible fire for some twenty 
minutes made a most gallant charge in conjunction with the 96th Regiment New York Vols, 
of Gen. Wessells' brigade, which, with the advance already made (slowly, but surely) of the 



348 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

entire line, forced the enemy to retreat precipitately for the bridge over the Neuse, w'-.ich 
they crossed, firing the bridge, which had been prepared for that purpose. Several regiments 
were so close, however, that about 400 prisoners were taken from the enemy. A line was 
formed to the river, and the fire extinguished before great damage was done. 

"The 9th New Jersey and 17th Mass. Regiments and Gen. Wessells' brigade were at 
once crossed, pushed into the town, and halted. I ordered the bridge to be at once repaired 
for the crossing of cavalry and artillery. 

Gen. Evans retired about two miles from town with his command and formed line 
of battle. I sent a flag of truce to inquire whether he proposed to surrender. He declined. 
I immediately prepared to attack him, but knowing that he had three light batteries and 
one section to start with, was unwilling to sacrifice my men, and waited for my artillery 
to cross. I ordered Batteries E and I, 3d New York Artillery, to shell the enemy with 
their 20-pounder Parrotts (four in number) from the opposite bank, and crossed Col. 
Amory's brigade with all dispatch ; but before I could attack the enemy they had retired, 
and it being by this time night I was unable to pursue; moreover, my object was accomplished. 

The troops bivouacked in the field beyond the town that night; a provost guard was 
established for the protection of the town and all necessary precautions were taken. I sent 
Capt. Cole, Co. K, 3d Regiment New York Cavalry, down the east bank of the Neuse to 
a work commanding the river. He reported it deserted, with si.K guns in position, and the 
work to be of great strength. I sent the company back with teams to bring up the guns and 
blow up the magazine. Capt. Cole being unable to remove the two heavy guns, one 8-incb 
columbiad and one 32-pounder, destroyed them, and brought back four field pieces complete. 
These, with two others deserted by the enemy, and the one taken by the 9th New Jersey, 
I sent to New Bern, under escort of Capt. Cole's company, (K) 3d New York Cavalry. 

The next morning, the 15th, I recrossed the river and took the river road for Golds- 
borough. I left a strong guard of cavalry in the town, under Maj. FitzSimmons, to make 
a demonstration on the Goldsborough road on that side of the river. Col. Ledlie. 3d New 
York Artillery, remained to destroy commissary and quartermaster's stores and burn the 
bridge. Maj. Fitz Simmons advanced some 9 miles in the direction of Goldsborough, when, 
hearing the whistle of a locomotive, he fired three shots in the direction of the sound, upon 
which the train immediately returned in the direction of Goldsborough. Col. Ledlie, before 
leaving Kinston, destroyed a locomotive, a railroad monitor, &c. 

I advanced without opposition to within 3H miles of White Hall, where I halted for 
the night. I sent Maj. Garrard with three companies of cavalry to make a reconnaissance 
to White Hall. He found one regiment and four guns on our side of the bridge over the 
Neuse, but they quickly retreated as he approached, firing the bridge effectually. 

The next morning (16th) I ordered Maj. Garrard, with five companies, 3d New 
York Cavalry and one section of artillery, 23d New York, to proceed to Mount Olive, a 
station on the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, 14 miles below Goldsborough. In passing 
White Hall en route for Mount Olive his command was fired upon from the opposite side 
of the river. He placed his guns in position and returned the fire until the main column 
arrived, when he limbered up and proceeded toward Mount Olive, which point he reached 
without opposition. Here he destroyed the railroad track for about a mile. He then 
proceeded along the line of the railroad for four miles and destroyed the bridge over Goshen 
Swamp. The track between Mount Olive and the Goshen Swamp Bridge was torn up and 
burned in five places. 

The column having arrived at White Hall and finding the bridge burned and the 
enemy in some force, with infantry and artillery on the other side, and this being the direct 
road to Goldsborough, I determined to make a strong feint, as if to rebuild and cross. The 
9th New Jersey and Col. Amory's brigade were sent forward and posted on the bank of the 
river to engage the enemy. I then ordered up several batteries and posted them on a hill 
overlooking the enemy's intrenchments. They opened on and silenced, after an hour's firing, 
the enemy's guns. The enemy still maintained their admirable position with sharpshooters, 
but deeming my object accomplished I moved my command forward toward Goldsborough, 
leaving sharpshooters in rear to continue the fight. We bivouacked that night 8 miles from 
Goldsborough, encountering no further opposition. 

On the morning of the 17th I advanced on Goldsborough. I ordered Maj. Fitz-Sim- 
mons, with two companies of cavalry, to make a feint in the direction of Dudley Station and 
Everettsville. They scattered a small force of the enemy there in every direction, burned 
two trestlework culverts, destroyed a train of four railroad cars, water-station, depot, &c, 
as well as some small arms, which they were not able to carry off, and captured a flag of 
the enemy. They then returned by a short cut to the main column. I also ordered Maj. 
Garrard, with four companies of cavalry and one section of artillery, to make a feint in 
the direction of a bridge over the Neuse, on our right, called Thompson's bridge. He found 
the enemy in force, supposed to be one regiment of infantry and four pieces of artillery, 
and the bridge already burned. I then directed, in order to make the feint more complete, 
and to further distract the enemy, one regiment (43d Mass.) and Angel's battery. 3d New 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 349 

York Artillery, to the support of the cavalry and engage the enemy, which they did, silencing, 
after an hour's brisk engagement, the enemy's fire. 

Col. Lee's brigade was in advance of the mam column and came upon the enemy m 
small force on the edge of the wood lining the railroad track. Riggs' battery, 3d New York 
Artillery, was placed in position and opened on them, when the enemy retired. The 9th 
New Jersey and 17th Mass. were ordered to strike the railroad track and follow it up direct 
to the bridge which they were to burn. Three regiments of Col. Lee's brigade were ordered 
to their support (the 25th 27th, and 3d Mass.) ; the remaining regiment was thrown on 
the left to protect our flank 'in that quarter. Gen. Wessells' brigade was advanced and formed 
on the hill overlooking the track, &c. ; three regiments were thrown to the left and the 
remaining regiments in lines, to be available at any point. My arnllery was brought forward 
and placed in position, firing to the front and left, principally at the bridge. The enemy 
replied with artillery from the other side of the river. Col. Heckman advanced steadily 
up the track fighting the enemy's infantry posted at the bridge and receiving a fire from 
the artillery 'in a monitor-car on the track of the bridge. After two hours he reached the 
bridge and under a heavy fire Lieut. Graham, 23d New York Battery, acting as aide-de- 
camp to Col. Heckman, fired the bridge. All who had previously attempted it were picked 
off, and Lieut. B. N. Mann, 17th Mass., who accompanied him, was wounded. 

I brought all my artillery to bear to prevent any effort to save the bridge, and, when 
the fire was doing its work, ordered a countermarch for New Bern, leaving Col. Lee to form 
the rear guard. Col. Lee was forming his brigade to leave the field, deeming the fight over, 
when three regimental colors were seen across the railroad track, the men protected by the 
embankment on which the track was laid. Col. Lee placed Morrison's battery in position 
and recalled his regiment in line. The enemy advanced with cheers across the railroad, 
steadily in line, upon Col. Lee's brigade. Morrison's battery opened on the advancing line 
with spherical case and with good effect, but they advanced steadily until within 300 yards 
of the battery, when, unable to stand the fearful loss they were sustaining from the battery, 
they broke and retreated. Their retreat was unexpectedly covered by a masked battery in 
the woods on our left. Belger's Rhode Island battery, which had been brought back, opened 
in reply to the battery and on two regiments which came in view, supporting their guns. 
Riggs' battery, 3d New York Artillery, was placed on an eminence on our left and in line 
■with the enemy, thus bringing a cross-fire to bear. They were thereby forced to retire, as 
was also a regiment in the woods on our right. 

Col. Lee, having orders not to attempt any further move, again formed his brigade 
and batteries and proceeded to join the column, which I had halted on hearing the firing 
from Col. Lee. This was a bold attempt of the enemy to entrap and secure Col. Lee's 
brigade and Morrison's battery. Owing to the efficiency of Col. Lee and Morrison's battery 
it was a disastrous failure. With a strong cavalry rear guard I then started on my return 
by the direct road, took and transported my sick and wounded men from White Hall and 
Kinston, carrying them all safely to this point. 

On the 13th a fleet of small boats left New Bern, under Commander Murray, U. S. 
Navy, to attack the works on the river at Kinston, but owing to the lowness of the water 
in the river only one small boat, the Allison, under Col. Manchester, Marine Artillery, was 
brought into action. The works being too strong she, after a gallant resistance, was obliged 
to retire, having, however, effected a good purpose by mystifying Gen. Evans as to where 
the attack was to come from, and induced him to retain several regiments on the Kinston 
side of the Neuse, thus diminishing the force opposed to us. 

In conclusion, I take great pleasure in reporting on the conduct of the officers and 
men under my command. It was most excellent, and maintained fully their high reputation. 

Gen. Wessells' brigade, of Gen. Peck's division, behaved like veterans, and reflected, 
by their drill, discipline, and steadiness under fire, the qualities of their commanding officer. 

Col. Heckman, of the 9th New Jersey, was, with his admirable regiment, always in 
advance, and displayed the greatest courage and efficiency. The lOth Regiment Conn. Vols., 
under Lieut.-Col. Leggett (as they always have done), behaved in the most gallant and 
dashing manner, making a charge under a fire in which in twenty minutes killed and 
wounded 90 men out of 340. Col. Potter, of the 1st North Carolina Vols., acted on my 
staff, and was of the greatest aid and assistance to me by his coolness and observation. 

I must particularly mention the conduct of Lieut. George W. Graham, 23d New York 
Battery, acting as aide to Col. Heckman. Throughout the entire march he was conspicuous 
for his' venturesome courage, and at Goldsborough, in company with Lieut. B. N. Mann, 
17th Mass. Vols., advanced and fired the bridge under the fire of the enemy's infantry and 
artillery. He only escaped capture by jumping from the bridge down the bank. Lieut. Mann 
was wounded. The artillery force, under Col. Ledlie, was well placed and well served, and 
the commanding officer and the batteries without exception, did most excellent service. The 
3d New York Cavalry, though not acting as a regiment, were in all cases prompt, brave, and 
efficient, as shown in the body of my report. Much credit is due to Mr. H. W. Wilson, 
engineer, who, in charge of the pioneers and a force of contrabands, did most excellent 
service in building bridges, repairing roads, etc. I inclose to Gen. E. A. Hitchcock, the lists 



350 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

. of paroled prisoners, numbering 496. I herewith inclose lists of the killed, wounded, and 
' missing, showing an aggregate of 90 killed, 478 wounded, and 9 missing. Among the killed 
I must mourn Col. Gray, of the 96th New York Regiment. He was killed at the head of 
his regiment at the Kinston bridge. Though but a few days in this department, he had 
already won the high esteem of all here. In the charge of the 10th Conn, they lost Capt 
H. A. Wells and Lieuts. VV. W. Perkins, T. D. Hill, and J. C. Coffing, all good and excellent 
officers, who died doing a gallant duty. For many details of distinguished services of 
individual officers I beg to refer to the brigade and regimental reports herewith enclosed. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. G. FOSTER, 
Maj.-Gen. H. W. Halleck, Major-General, Commanding Department. 

General-in-chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, pages 53-59.) 

CONGRATULATORY ORDER OF MAJ. GEN. FOSTER. 

Headquarters, Dept. of North Carolina, New Bern, December 26, 1862. 
General Orders, No. 81. 

The commanding general desires to thank the troops under his command for the- 
new proof of their courage and steadiness afforded by the recent expedition. The veteran 
brigade of Gen. Wessell's and the troops of this department alike did their duty as soldier* 
well. By order of Maj.-Gen. J. G. Foster. 

SOUTHARD HOFFMAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, page 59.) 

General Orders, No. 18. 

Hdqrs. Eighteenth Army Corps, New Bern, January 15, 1863. 

In consideration of and as a reward for their brave deeds at Kinston, White Hall, 
and Goldsborough, the commanding general directs that the regiments and batteries which 
accompanied the expedition to Goldsborough inscribe upon their banners those three 
victories: 

Kinston. December 14, 1862, 

White Hall, December 16, 1862, 

Goldsborough, December 17, 1862. 

The commanding general hopes that all future fields will be so fought that the record 
of them may be kept by inscription on the banners of the regiments engaged. 

By command of Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster: 

SOUTHARD HOFFMAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

(0. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII. page 60.) 

HYDE COUNTY RAID. 
REPORT OF CAPT. COLIN RICHARDSON. 

New Bern, N. C, March 6, 1863. 
Colonel : I have the honor to report that I left this place Sunday, March 1, at 5 
P. M., on board the steamer Escort with my company (F, 3d New York Cavalry) and the 
first howitzer of the battery attached to the same regiment, also Co. G, 1st North Carolina 
Vols., and proceeded to Rose Bay Bridge, not, however, without a great deal of delay for the 
want of a pilot, as there was no one on either of the two boats who was sufficiently 
acquainted with the place. I then ordered Capt. Brinkerhoff to make a reconnaissance with 
his boat. North State, who after a delay of four hours reported that he had found the 
bridge. I ordered the scow alongside and disembarked the infantry and howitzer and a 
portion of the cavalry, placing Lieut. Joy in command until my arrival. On arriving with 
the balance and having resumed the command I ordered a small guard on board the North 
State, with orders to the captain of the same to destroy the bridge; I in the meantime 
proceeded along the north side of the lake for a distance of about 5 miles. With much 
difficulty and delay we marched, the crossings of the road having been torn up by the negroes, 
under. the orders of one Henry Cradle (whom I have brought back a prisoner) and having 
a protection from Gov. Stanley. I encamped for the night at the cross roads. 

Next morning at day break I resumed my march, encountering and driving in the 
enemy's pickets. About three miles from Fairfield we drove more of the enemy, and on 
arriving at the place I found it nearly deserted. I passed on about 2 miles further, when 
I discovered a boat on the lake; hailed it, but no attention was paid to the hail. I ordered 
Lieut. Burke to throw a shell across the bow of the boat, which brought it to shore. I found 
in the boat two men without protections, whom I ordered out of the boat, and placed in 
it a squad of infantry under charge of a non-commissioned officer, to sail around to Lake 
Landing with orders to save the bridge if possible. I then moved on and encamped for the 
night 9 miles from Lake Landing. 

The next morning, (Wednesday) I resumed the march. After moving about 5 miles 
I was fired upon by gfuerrillas from some houses on the right of the road. Our men drove- 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 351 

them from the houses into the woods. I then deployed the infantry to the right and threw 
out cavalry skirmishers in front and rear and covered the mfantry with the howitzer, 
shelling the woods and dispersing the enemy in all directions. Having rallied my command, 
I moved on toward Lake Landing, leaving Lieut. Morse, with a party of cavalry, to burn 
their headquarters. I proceeded without further interruption until arriving at the bridge, 
which I found destroyed. I ordered the fences to be torn down and used to rebuild the 
bridge. I then moved on and drove in mounted pickets during the whole march from Lake 
Landing to within about 11% miles of Swan Quarter, when I was attacked from the swanp on 
the right of the road in front and rear by about 80 guerrillas and ordered to surrender. A deep 
canal about 8 feet wide ran between me and the attacking party. As my vedettes were 
passing, the guerrillas fired one shot. Lieut. Benson immediately charged with the- first 
platoon' of cavalry and received a volley, killing three of my men and wounding the lieu- 
tenant and several others. Six horses were killed and many wounded. I ordered the 
infantry to deploy into the woods as skirmishers, not, however, without some difficulty, and 
ordered Lieut. Burke to unlimber his piece and give the enemy a few rounds of canister, 
supported by the second platoon of cavalry. Here Lieut. Burke was wounded in the face, 
breast and hand. The remainder of the enemy were dispersed and fled, having sustained a 
loss of many of their number, among whom was their captain killed and a lieutenant taken 
prisoner. After having my killed and wounded taken care of and placed in wagons and 
carts which I had captured, I moved on to Swan Quarter, and having learned that a force 
of 250 or 300 guerrillas was lying in ambush about 3 miles from Swan Quarter, on the road 
to Rose Bay, and deeming it inexpedient to encounter it with my weakened force, I 
dispatched Corporal Kent, Co. F, 3d New York Cavalry, and 3 men to sail in a small boat to 
the Gunboat North State, ordering Capt. Brinkerhoff to steam around to Swan Quarter 
Landing. The next morning, he having arrived, I embarked on board the steamer Escort, 
which had accompanied the gunboat. I arrived here at 4 p. m. today. 

I beg leave to make honorable mention of Luther H. Farnsworth, Co. I, 5th Mass. 
Vols., who "accompanied the infantry. He was cool and courageous, jumping through ths 
canai and taking the extreme right, leading the platoon of infantry into the fight; also 
Lieut. Morse, of the 3d New York Cavalry, who was of great service in the rear, returning 
the fire of the enemy with effect and holding them in check. 

My loss is as follows: Killed, 3; wounded, 2 lieutenants (Benson and Burke), 
and 12 men of my company and 1 of the First North Caroline Volunteers. One sergeant 
of my company has since died of his wounds." I am, sir, respectfully yours, 

COLIN RICHARDSON, 
Capt. Company F, 3d New York Cav. Comdg. Expedition. 
Lieut. Col. Southard Hoffman, Assistant Adjutant-General. 
(O. R. Ser. 1, Vol. XVIII, pages 157-158.) 

REPORT OF COL. D. B. MORRIS. 

Report of Col. David B. Morris, 101st Penn. Inf'y. ^ ., ^ ,, ,. ,„ ,o»o 
Hdqrs. 101st Regt. Pa. Vols., New Bern, N. C, March 17, 1863. 

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following as my report of the expedition under 
my command around Lake Mattamuskeet, Hyde County, North Carolina. 

In obedience to instructions from corps headquarters of March 7, I embarked the 
troops under my command, viz., 101st and 103d Regiments Penna. Vols., Co. F, 3d New York 
Cavalry and one piece and caisson 3d New York Artillery, on the afternoon of 7th instant, 
on board the Northerner and Escort. Accompanied by the North State and two scows, we 
proceeded to Swan Quarter, Hvde County, arriving at 7 o'clock, A. M., 8th instant, and the 
gunboat Allison at once proceeded to Rose Bay Bridge to prevent its reconstruction. After 
eight or ten hours' delay, caused by the captain of the steamer Northerner failing to go 
nearer than about 13 miles to the landing, we commenced debarking the troops in the after- 
noon of the 8th instant. Seven companies of infantry and one platoon of cavalry, with 
howitzer, under command of Lieut. Col. Armor, 101st Penna. Vols., were debarked and 
marched to Swan Quarter, 1% miles from the landing, arriving about 5 o'clock P. M. The 
remainder of the troops debarked at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 9th and proceeded to 
Swan Quarter. Acting on the advice of Capt. Richardson, 3d New York Cavalry, we then 
advanced in two columns, one in a southwest direction, under command of Col. Morris, the 
other in a northwest direction, under command of Lieut. Col. Armor, forming a junction at 
Mason's house at the earthwork, distant about 8 miles from Swan Quarter where we 
bivouacked for the night, after posting our picket. During the night our picket captured 1 
man (Thomas Voliva), attempting to fire upon the picket. 

We resumed the line of march at 6:30 A. M., 10th instant, proceeding around the 
lake from north to east, marching 25 miles, and bivouacked for the night on Spencer's farm. 
At 6 o'clock A M., 11th instant, resumed the march; arrived at Swan Quarter, about 6 
o'clock P. M., having marched 30 miles. During the 10th and 11th it rained almost inces- 
santly, consequently. the roads were very bad. No armed force at any point was to be seen. 



352 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

A few stragglers, whose names were on the guerrilla muster-roll, were captured and brought 
to New Bern. A few others, supposed to belong to the company, were also brought with us 
— 11 in all. They are now in the hands of the provost-marshall at New Bern. About 60 
citizens were made prisoners, but released at Swan Quarter upon taking the oath of allegi- 
ance. From the best information that could be obtained the band of guerrillas in this county 
were scattered about in small parties of from 6 to 8, through the almost impassable swamps. 
Quite a number of horses, oxen, and carts were captured, but the greater part were 
abandoned, not deeming them of sufficient value to warrant the delay of transportation and 
expense of subsistence. On the morning of the 12th instant Capt. Richardson, with 300 men 
and all available transportation, was sent out seven miles, to the farm of Judge Donald, for 
the purpose of bringing in a quantity of cotton, corn, and bacon. 

The following is an approximate list of all the property turned over to the proper 
authorities: Seventeen horses; 13 buggies; 1 yoke oxen; 1 schooner. Snow Squall, of 
Washington, of about 35 tons burden; 8 cart-loads cotton (small portion unginned) not 
baled; about 1,500 pounds bacon; about 400 bushels corn; about 40 slaves, who followed us 
to the landing. We embarked on the 13th instant and arrived at New Bern on 14th instant. 
The only buildings burned by my order were the outbuildings of a farmhouse near Fair- 
field, in which we found a rebel officer's coat, ammunition, &c. I regret to state that a small 
mill at Swan Quarter was fired and burned, and also a barn filled with corn adjoining 
Spencer's farm was burned by an unknown party; also a number of stacks of fodder on 
the farm of Judge Donald was burned without my order. 

I would also call attention to a lack of proper discipline among the line officers of 
the 103d Regiment Penna. Vols. They seem to have little or no control over their com- 
mands, and lack energy to enforce proper discipline. To this there are some exceptions. 
The idlst Regiment Penna. Vols, also lacks discipline, which I attribute to my long absence 
from it, but which in the course of time I will bring about again. As an instance of 
insubordination in the 103d Penna. Vols., while embarking on board the Northerner from 
the steamer Escort the officers and men, contrary to repeated orders, rushed forward before 
the boat could be made fast to such an extent as to endanger life and to render it impossible 
for the officers of the boat to manage her. Having repeated the order for the men to 
remain in their places and await orders, and all to no effect, I seized a gun and fired down 
the side of the boat for the purpose of deterring the men, but with no intention of injuring 
any one. At the moment of firing a man rushed forward and was slightly injured. My 
thanks are due the officers of the Escort, North State, Lockwood, and Allison for their 
valuable assistance. 

I am, sir very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D. B. MORRIS. 
Colonel, Commanding Expedition. 

Lieut Col. Southard Hoffman, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, page 181.) 

COMPLAINT OF GOV. ED. STANLEY. 
Maj.-Gen. Foster, Commanding, &c. : New Bern, March 28, 1863. 

General: I deeply regret to be compelled, in the last hours of my stay here, to 
distress you by complaints of the outrages of our forces in the last expedition to Hyde 
County. In numerous instances, well authenticated, they entered and robbed the houses of 
loyal men, destroyed furniture, insulted women, and treated with scorn the protections 
which by your advice I had given them. Can I give to people whose loyalty is not and 
never has been questioned any assurance that you can see them protected? As matters now 
stand the loyal men and women, aged and infirm, outside of our lines are the most un- 
fortunate and oppressed in our country; both sides pillage and rob them. I know you 
have uniformly rebuked these atrocities, but your words have been treated like my pro- 
tections. I invoke for the people referred to such interposition as your sense of duty and 
humanity will suggest. With high respect and regard, yours, &c., 

ED. STANLEY. 
(Indorsement.) March 29, 1863. 

Referred to Colonel Morris for report. 

J. G. FOSTER. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, p. 182.) Major-Gcneral. 

THE SIEGE OF WASHINGTON, N. C. 

FROM REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. I. N. PALMER. 

New Bern, Sunday, April 5, 1863, 4. P. M. 
Maj. Gen. J. G. Foster: * * * In addition to the troops of Spinola's brigade 
already up near the Hill's Point Battery the Northerner yesterday took two regiments, the 
5th Mass., and 101st Penn. You must bear in mind that ever since you left here we have 
had the most terrific weather; the wind has either blown the water all out of the river or it 
has been blowing such a gale that most of our transportation could not do anything. Our 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 353 

vessels have been either aground or windbound. Such a time has never been known here 
since we took the place. * * * I. N. PALMER. 

(O. R. Sen I, Vol. XVIII, page 584.) 

FROM REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. HENRY PRINCE. 

Hdqrs. 5th Division, 18th Army Corps, New Bern, N. C, April 13, 1863. 

•'I left [New Bern] next morning (4th inst.) for the Pamlico and arrived at Blounts 
Bay at 8 P. M. * * ♦ TheNortherner arrived [April 5,] with the following troops on 
board: The 101st Penna., Col. Morris, 350 strong; the 5th Mass., Col. Pierson, 500 strong 
* * * . At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 6th I left for New Bern, having given orders 
to each transport that was to accompany me * * * . At evening I arrived at New 
Bern. On the 7th I appointed Maj. Frankle chief of staff for an expedition which I expected 
to conduct * * * . During the day I was quite ill and constantly retching * * *. 
Early on the 8th I awoke with a blinding headache and sickness, and sent an officer of 
my staff with the organization and order of march at once to Gen. Palmer, with the mes- 
sage that I was too ill to attend to any duty. * * * 

HENRY PRINCE, Brig.-Gen. Vols. 

(0. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, page 224.) 

REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. F. B. SPINOLA. 
Headquarters Spinola's Brigade, Washington, N.' C, May 15, 1863. 

Colonel: In obedience to orders received from Headquarters 18th Army Corps, 
directing that my brigade should be at Foster's Wharf at 2 A. M., on April 8, for the 
purpose of crossing the Neuse River, I have the honor to submit the following report: 

The brigade reached the place designated a quarter of an hour before the time 
specified, and in two hours were all over the river. They bivouacked near the old rebel 
fort on the road leading to the New Hope School House. At between 1 and 2 o'clock on the 
morning of April 8, I called upon Brig.-Gen. Henry Prince at his headquarters to ascertain 
if there were any specific instructions to be issued in regard to the expedition and to learn 
what time he had fixed on for the column to commence moving. I believe that Gen. Prince 
was to command the expedition, as he had been ordered by Gen. Foster to proceed with it 
to the relief of the garrison at Washington, N. C, which was then invested by the enemy. 
I found Gen. Prince in a state of mind denoting that he was very much exercised in regard 
to the propriety of making the contemplated march, and he freely expressed his opinion to 
me that the expedition could not succeed, that it must be a very great failure, for he did not 
believe that any of those who accompanied it would return, as we would all be captured, 
and that it was like making the rebels a present of all the artillery. 

Gen. Prince at this interview also invited me to volunteer to take the command of 
the expedition, which I declined in the most positive and unmistakable language. I wai 
entirely willing to take my chance with others of either falling upon the field or being taken 
prisoner, but my own good sense promptly told me that the size of the expedition and the 
importance of its trust forbade one of my limited military experience from assuming iti 
command, except under positive orders from my superior officers, and then, in obedience 
to a willing heart, I could only promise to do the best I could to accomplish the object of 
the expedition. At about 10 A. M. on April 8, a messenger called at my room and told 
me that Gen. Palmer desired to see me at once. I immediately proceeded to his head- 
quarters, when he informed me that the command of the expedition would fall upon mc. 
This was the first intimation I had received that this important trust would be placed under 
my charge. I expressed my astonishment at it. and told Gen. Palmer that I could not 
assume the command unless I received a written order to that effect, which he assured me 
I should have before starting. I have deemed it due to truth and the interest of the service 
that these facts should be stated in this report, as they form a link in the history of the 
efforts made to relieve the invested garrison. I then crossed the river, and shortly after 
reaching the other side was handed the following order : 

Brig. Gen. F. B. Spinola, Fort Anderson, Neuse River, April 8, 1863. 

U. S. Volunteers, New Bern, N. C. 
General : The forces for the relief of Washington are hereby placed under your 
command, and a list of them is furnished to you. Gen. Foster, commanding this depart- 
ment, has given positive instructions that all the available force at New Bern shall march 
to Washington to his relief. You will perceive that this order has been implicitly obeyed 
so far as placing the troops at your disposition is concerned. You have informed mc that 
you have read the orders sent to Gen. Prince by Gen. Foster. As these are the only 
instructions I have seen I can only direct you to bear in mind the letter of Gen. Foster 
and exercise your best judgment in carrying out his views. The sole object of the expedi- 
tion is to get the troops into Washington, now invested by the enemy, and I feel confident 
that everything that can be done will be effected. Please to keep me informed of the state 
of affairs as you proceed. Look well to the roads leading into your rout from the direction 
of Kinston. Should you be obliged to build a bridge at Swift Creek it should be protected, 



354 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

for the supplies for your command may not be able to start until tomorrow. I will not 
anticipate a failure to get through, but should you be obliged to return (for I shall send 
for you if this place is attacked by any force that I think will be able to overcome the 
force left here) let the return movement be conducted with order and great care.' 
I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

I. N. PALMER, Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
On the receipt of which I directed the column to be ready to move at 3 o'clock that 
afternoon. I organized the several regiments comprising the command into three brigades, 
of five regiments each, and assigned to each brigade its proper portion of artillery, and 
also gave the cavalry the necessary instructions to govern them on the march. 

The First Brigade was put under the command of Col. Amory, of the 17th Mass. 
Vols., and comprised the following infantry and artillery: The 17th Mass. Vols., two 32- 
pounder howitzers, 43d Mass. Vols., 101st Penna. Vols., 96th New York Vols., 3d Mass. 
Vols., and Belger's battery. 

The Second Brigade was commanded by Col. Lee, and consisted of the following 
named infantry and artillery: The 85th New York Vols., 103d Penna. Vols., Riggs' Battery, 
5th Mass. Vols., 8th Mass. Vols., and the I32d New York Vols. 

The Third Brigade was under the command of Col. Bierer, and included the follow- 
ing regiments of infantry and pieces of artillery: Two pieces of artillery, 175th Penna. 
Militia, 158th New York Vols., 171st Penna. Militia, 158th Penna. Militia, and 5th Rhode 
Island Vols. 

The following official statement, purporting to show the true strength of the com- 
mand, was also furnished me by Gen. Palmer, on the day the expedition was to leave, and it 
is the one referred to in Gen. Palmer's order: 

Official Statement of Troops that Can Be Furnished Brig. Gen. H. Prince, U. S. Vols., 
Commanding Expedition April 8, 1863. 
Eighty-fifth New York Inf'y, 445 men; 103d Penna. Inf'y, 471; 5th Mass. Inf'y, 593; 
8th Mass. Inf'y, 271; 158th New York Inf'y, 245; 132d New York Inf'y, 555; 3d Mass. Inf'y. 
674; 17th Mass. Inf'y, 591; 43d Mass. Inf'y, 701; 101st Penna. Inf'y 395; 96th New York 
Inf'y, 278; 171st Penna. Inf'y, 600; 158th Penna. Inf'y, 600; 175th Penna. Inf'y, 600; 5th 
Rhode Island Inf'y, 388; total infantry, 7,407 men. 

Artillery, 16 guns; cavalry, two squadrons, 400 men; by command of Brig. Gen. I. N. 
Palmer, commanding. 

J. A. JLTDSON, Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General. 
It is evident that this statement was prepared with the understanding that Gen. 
Prince was to command. It represents the strength of the expedition to be 7,807, exclusive 
of the artillery, which was 316, as shown by a field report made at the time of starting, 
which would make the whole force 8,123; while the field report received from each brigade, 
together with the artillery and cavalry, half an hour before starting, showed the whole 
force to be but 6,465 instead of 8,123, a difference of 1,658 less than that shown by the 
official statement. The column moved promptly at 3 o'clock, and reached Little Swift Creek 
at 8 o'clock the same evening, having marched between 14 and 15 miles. The advance guard 
met the enemy's picket about 7 miles from Fort Anderson. They retreated without returning 
fire. Half an hour later three heavy guns were heard in the direction of Swift Creek 
Village, which I took for alarm guns of the enemy. From information of a character that 
seemed entirely reliable I learned that six regiments of infantry (about 6,000 men), under 
command of Gen. Pettigrow, and one regiment of caxalry, under command of Col. Clai- 
borne, numbering about 1,000 men, were encamped at Walter Ruff's farm, on the road 
leading to Washington and Hill's Point, where it crosses Blount's Creek. From various 
sources I learned that the enemy were also in large force at Swift Creek Village and 
occupied both sides of the bridge, as well as the roads leading to Kinston and Greenville, 
but I could not learn their exact strength, except that they occupied five or six different 
camps. The fact that the enemy were in force at the cross roads in front of Washington 
was also confirmed by both contrabands and prisoners in a manner that left no doubt in 
my mind that the strength of the enemy on the south side of Pamlico River and vicinity 
and all of which were within supporting distance of each other, could not have been less 
than 12,000 or 15,000 men, although it was fixed by all the information received at a much 
greater number. With these facts before me, and after a consultation with the brigade 
commanders together with the chief officer of artillery, who were unanimous in their 
expressions of opinion that the column had better return to New Bern, as in their judgment 
an absolute failure would be the result of the expedition if we proceeded by this route, 
I therefore concluded not to go by the way of Swift Creek Village. 

The infantry of the enemy at this place was strongly intrenched and had thrown 
up earthworks for their artillery which commanded all the direct approaches to the village, 
although from the evidence received their strength in the village proper was not as great 
as mine, and if I had attacked them there and driven them out of the place they could 
have retreated toward the cross roads in front of Washington and joined the forces 
located at that point. Still, to have pursued this course and pushed on toward Washington 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 355 

fay this route would have exposed my left flank to the assault of the enemy who were 
encamped m considerable force on the roads leading toward Kinston and Greenville where 
Pettigrew would certamly have crossed Blount's Creek and attacked my rear for I 'had no 
"^.^yoi P^°^^(^}^^g It except by dividing my force and it was not large enough to admit 
A A^^ "^' particularly so as I would have been compelled to have met at the cross 
roads and in my front a force very much larger than my own and well intrenched 

Thus hemmed in on three sides by an active foe, with an impenetrable swamp on 
"F/'ir ' '^ ■^^"^^ h^"^^ 'eft me but a small chance of success and no opportunity whatever 
of falhng back m the event of a repulse at the cross-roads, the consequence of which would 
have been either the annihilation of my command or its capture, to avoid which I decided 
to try and reach Washington by the way of Blount's Creek road, and if possible drive the 
enemy back, so as to reach Hill's Point and capture that battery and thus raise the blockade 
In making this march I could completely cover my rear and flanks by removing the bridges 
across Little Swift Creek and blockading the roads over which I was to pass before reachine 
the main road leading to Blount's Creek, all of which I did, although I could not have pro- 
tected my rear and flanks by the same means if I had taken the Swift Creek road as it 
would have cut off my only means of retreat in the event of a repulse, as well as to have 
completely destroyed all communication with New Bern, which I was directed to protect 
and keep open for the accommodation of the wagon and ammunition train, which could 
not start until one day after the main body of the troops. 

I further deem it of interest that the following communication, received from Gen 
f'almer while on the march, should be introduced in this report, as it is confirmatory of 
my own information in regard to the strength and position of the enemy : 

■or- -r^ T. c ■ , -rr . , r. ^^^ Be''". N. C, April 9, 1863, 8 A. M 

Bng. Gen. F. B. Spmola, United States Volunteers : y . , ^. 

General: Yours written at 11 P. M. yesterday, I have received. An hour before I 
received your letter I heard from Captain McCann, commanding the gunboats on the river 
near the blockade, the same m formation concerning the force and position of the enemv 
Your suggestions as to the mode of relief for Washington, taking all things into consideVa- 
^n appear to be good. I cannot trammel you with . orders. Your own good Tud^ent 
S hi fn /^"',,'n"r'-^^°"i ^"^g^^tion concerning the transportation and the w?gons 
to be forwarded shall be adopted. Very respectfully yours, -igons 

I. N. PALMER, Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
XT c^i" ^J^e jnorning of April 9, I moved back from Little Swift Creek toward the New 
Hope School House, which I reached at 9 o'clock, halted the column, fed the artillery horses 
(the forage having just reached me at this point), and at 10 o'clock started for Blount's 
L-reek, a distance of 11 miles, which place I reached at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
After marching 2 miles we met and exchanged fire with the enemy's pickets which was 
continued until we reached the cross roads 1 mile from Ruff's Mill, which is located near 
the head of the creek. I here halted the column for about fifteen minutes while I made 
a reconnaissance of the approaches to the bridge which led over the creek I here found 
the enemy in force and strongly intrenched. I moved forward Col. Amory's brigade with 
two 32 pounder howitzers under the command of Ueut. Folk, and the 12-pounder Napoleon 
battery under command of Capt. Belger. The approaches to the creek by the main road 
were through a dense wood with marsh on the left, the ground to the right being a little 
higher but heavily timbered, while the edge of the stream could not be reached owing to 
Its swampy nature, together with the growth of heavy timber and underbrush which 
rendered it impassable so that it was impossible to reach the creek below the bridge except 
As we approached, the enemy opened fire on the column from the opposite bank of 
toward Its mouth, a distance of 5 or 6 miles, and there it could not be crossed without the 
aid of pontoon bridges or flats decked over, neither of which I had been provided with 
the creek and the engagement was immediately commenced by a company of the 3d New 
York Cavalry, Capt. Pond, which was dismounted and deployed as skirmishers with a 
mountain howitzer under command of Lieut. Burke, the howitzer and cavalry being under 
the direction of Maj. Garrard, 3d New York Cavalry. The advance line of skirmishers 
was also engaged at the same time with the cavalry and howitzer companies. The enemy 
on the opposite bank of the creek, which is not fordable and crossed only by a bridge which 
they had rendered impassable by tearing off the planking, were concealed on the higher 
ground occupied by them I accordingly had the skirmishers, the howitzer and cavalry 
companies withdrawn, and opened fire with canister from the two 32-pounder howitzers 
to which I soon added four pieces of Belger's Battery, the enemy replying in the same 
manner with g-rape. canister, and shell. The engagement continued for an hour and three- 
quarters in this way. ""tc 

Having silenced the enemy guns and dismounted one of them, and finding it utterly 
impossible under the circumstances to cross the creek, I ordered the infantry to fall back 
and the artillery gradually withdrawn, with a squadron of cavalry in their rear No 
property of any description was left behind. The return march was made without the least 
confusion or interruption of any kind and without any molestation from the enemy The 



356 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

column proceeded as far as the New Hope School House and bivouacked for the night, 
and returned to New Bern the next day. 

The casualties of officers and men were 11 wounded, none killed, which was very 
slight considering the nature of the engagement. Capt. Belger was wounded in the leg, the 
ball passing through his thigh and killing his horse under him; in the 17th Mass. Volunteers, 
Lieut. Roberts and 7 men; in the artillery, 2 men besides Capt. Belger. It is impossible to 
ascertain the loss of the enemy. Several prisoners were taken. As our fire was well 
sustained, it doubtless did good execution. The 17th Mass. Vols, and the 43d Mass. Militia 
were the only part of my infantry engaged, and the conduct of both officers and men was 
all that could be desired, as was also that of the artillery and cavalry engaged. 

I take great pleasure in stating that the conduct of Col. Amory, commanding brigade; 
Lieut. Col. Lewis, of the cavalry; Lieut. Col. Fellows, commanding 17th Mass., together 
with Capt. Belger, of the artillery, during the march and engagement, was not only cool 
and brave but of the most creditable character, particularly while under fire; as was also 
that of Maj. Garrard, of the 3d New York Cavalry; Maj. Frankle, of the 17th Mass. Vols., 
and Maj. Stone, of the 3d New York Artillery, the last named officers having been tem- 
porarily detailed on my staff. 

I am. Colonel, with respect, your obedient servant, 

F. B. SPINOLA, Brigadier-General. 
Lieut-Col. Southard Hofltman, Assistant Adjutant General, 18th Army Corps. 
(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XVIII, pages 247 to 252.) 

REPORT OF COL. LEHMANN ON GARDNER'S BRIDGE RECONNOISSANCE. 

Colonel : In order to divert the attention of the enemy from a cavalry expedition 
which was supposed to have left New Bern in the direction of the Weldon Railroad, I 
detached a portion of this command, under Col. Lehmann, with instructions to move from 
Fort Gray toward Jamesville, and to threaten the strong position of the enemy at Gardner's 
Bridge, 2 miles beyond. A second detachment, under Col. Morris, was ordered to embark 
on board of gunboats kindly furnished by Lieut.-Com. Flusser, with the intention of landing 
at Williamston, inclosing the force at Gardner's Bridge between the two detachments. 

The violence of the current prevented the gunboats from reaching their destination 
at the appointed time, and, in consequence, the co-operation was incomplete. 

The effect of the expedition has been to force the enemy higher up the river, and to 
break up his position near Jamesville, from whence small marauding parties have been in the 
habit of prowling in the vicinity of this station, to annoy the outposts. The expedition left 
on the 5th and returned on the 7th instant. The reports of Col. Lehmann and Col. Morris 
are herewith inclosed. Respectfully, 

H. W. Wessells, Brig. Gen. 

Lieut. Col. S. Hoffmann, Asst. Adjt. Gen'l. 

Hdqrs. First Brigade, 4th Division, 18th A. C. 

Plymouth, N. C, July 8, 1863. 

Captain : I have the honor to report that, in compliance with orders and instructions 
received July 5, a detachment from regiments composing this brigade was made, in 
order to take part in an expedition in connection with gunboats, artillery, and cavalry, so as 
to divert the attention of the enemy from an expedition set on foot in New Bern, N. C., for 
certain purposes. 

The movements of the expedition under my command, I regret to say, were not 
executed as could have been desired, not on account of neglect or carelessness of officers 
and men, but owing to the unavoidable tardiness of the gunboats, on board of which a 
part of my force was transported. If the current of the river had not by its violence re- 
tarded the motion of the fleet, a more brilliant result might have been obtained, but, as it is, 
in my humble opinion all that could have been done was effected. 

Two regiments, the 101st and 103d Penna. Vols., were transported, under command 
of Col. Morris, by gunboats to Williamston, N. C, with instructions to march as soon as 
landed, which was supposed would take place at 7 A. M. on the 6th inst., and proceed by 
land toward and in the rear of a force stationed at Gardner's Bridge, said to consist of 
three or four companies of infantry and some artillery, and, if possible, to attack the 
enemy. Meanwhile one section of artillery, 50 cavalry, and a detachment of the 85th and 
96th New York Vols., in all about 500 strong, marched under my own command, after hav- 
ing been towed in a scow to Warneck, the camp ground of the 96th New York, on the 
Roanoke River, toward Gardner's Bridge, to simultaneously attack the enemy in front, thus 
placing him between my own and the command of Col. Morris. Unforeseen impediments 
prevented the gunboats from arriving at Williamston at the appointed time ; consequently the 
co-operation of the two detachments of troops did not take place. 

Leaving Warneck at 12 :30 P. M., the land force arrived without any disturbance on 
the part of the enemy near Gardner's Bridge at 6 A. M., where the enemy's pickets were 
found and soon driven in over the bridge. The denseness of the woods and undergrowth 



OFFICIAL REPORTS 357 

at this locality, and the swampy ground in the vicinity of Gardner's Creek, presented so 
many difficulties in discovering the enemy's position, that the fire of the artillery, which had 
been brought to bear in what was thought the right direction, remained without any 
apparent effect, not even eliciting a reply from the enemy's guns, which might have guided 
our cannoneers in delivering their fire. 

After many unsuccessful attempts to ascertain the exact position of the enemy, it was 
finally discovered to be opposite the bridge, on elevated ground, exposing to view one side 
of a rectangular redoubt, with one masked embrasure. The position was well selected and 
commanded the bridge and its approaches. Riflemen were concealed within the redoubt.' 

Having now discovered a more suitable ground for artillery, I ordered one piece to 
be brought to the front, and, though the enemy's works were concealed from the view of 
our cannoneers, they were able to play on the redoubt with some accuracy, their aim being 
corrected by soldiers placed to watch the effect of the shot. 

The time for the approach of Col. Morris' column having arrived, I ceased firing, so 
as not to endanger the lives of our own men, supposed to be moving in the rear of the 
enemy, to co-operate with my force in front. For reasons already stated, viz. : the tardy 
arrival of the boats, we were deprived of the fruits of this expedition. After waiting in 
vain for the arrival of Col. Morris' force until 4 P. M., and not knowing what had pre- 
vented his coming, I thought it advisable to withdraw from before the enemy, to return to 
this place, where the force arrived safely about 9 P. M., having marched about 26 miles. 

Not finding the gunboats on my return, and hearing heavy firing in the direction of 
Williamston, I was directed to return to Jamesville with my whole force, which I did early 
on the 7th instant, and arrived at that place at 10 :30 A. M. Ascertaining that the gunboats 
were coming down on their way back to Plymouth, I rested my men in the shade, and, in 
company with some cavalry, went to the bridge to ascertain if any change of affairs had 
taken place since the day previous. I found the enemy's work abandoned, and an attempt 
made at burning the bridge, and learned that the enemy had evacuated during the night, to 
assist in repelling our force at Williamston. The strength of the enemy at the bridge was 
represented to have been four companies of infantry and a company of artillery with a 12 
pounder brass piece. 

_ After effectually destroying the bridge by fire, I returned to my command and 
arrived at quarters at about 9 P. M. I cannot, without injustice to the officers and men of 
this command, close this report without giving them praise for their good conduct, readi- 
ness, and cheerfulness to execute all orders given them. Though foot-sore and overcome 
by the great heat of the day, they marched well, and behaved like good soldiers. Lieut. 
Haas, of the 12th New York Cavalry, deserves to be honorably mentioned for his activity 
and zeal. Inclosed you will find Col. Morris' report. I have the honor to be, sir, yours very 
respectfully, T. F. LEHMAN N, ' 

Col. Comdg. Brigade. 
Capt. Andrew Stewart, Asst. Adjt. Gen'I. 

REPORT OF COL. MORRIS ON WILLIAMSTON RECONNOISSANCE. 

^ , , , ^ , , Plymouth, N. C, July 8, 1863. 

Colonel : I have the honor to transmit a report of the expedition to Williamston, 
N. C., under my command. 

In obedience to your orders, on Sunday, the 5th instant, at or about 4 P M I em- 
barked my command, consisting of the 103d and 101st Penna. Vols., on board the gunboats 
Southfield and Commodore Perry. 

We proceeded up the river, accompanied by the gunboats Whitehead and Valley City. 
Our speed was much retarded on account of the swiftness of the current, consequently we 
did not effect an arrival at the landing of the town at the time previously set upon until 
Monday evening at or about 4 o'clock, the 103d Penna. Vols., steamer Southfield not arriv- 
ing until about 8 o'clock. ' 

The enemy having been previously formed in line of battle, with skirmishers de- 
ployed within a distance from us easily discernible, at our appearance they began to dis- 
appear into the town. In the meantime, the steamer Whitehead threw a shell in the direc- 
tion where their main body was supposed to be stationed, eliciting no response from their 
guns. I ordered Cos. I and K, 101st Penna. Vols., on shore, in quarter-boats, to be de- 
ployed as skirmishers, or lie in reserve, as might be thought most practicable by the com- 
mander of the companies, in order to reconnoiter the movements of the enemy and obtain 
the strength of his force, if possible. 

One hour after the first shot (as stated above) from the steamer Whitehead sev- 
eral other shots (shells) were sent over into the town. After firing a few shots, a flag of 
truce was sent to the town, composed of the following officers, viz.: Maj A. W Gazzam 
103d Penna. Vols., and Capt. [Hartman KL] Furniss, of the Valley City, demanding an 
•vacuation of the town (a copy of which I hereby inclose), which was responded to by an 



358 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

obstinate refusal, evincing evidence that it was their intention to hold the town at all 
hazards. The gunboats kept up a desultory firing during the night. In the meantime I 
issued orders giving the manner of advance on the town (a copy of which I inclose). 

My orders were carried into effect, and obeyed promptly, and all performed with 
vigilance and activity, in a manner worthy of praise. We occupied and held the town an 
hour and a half, finding all had been deserted, with the exception of a few citizens (not 
exceeding 25 in all, black and white), the other or main portion of the citizens having re- 
tired to a grove about 1^ miles beyond the town. 

From what information I could obtain from citizens and otherwise, the enemy had 
taken a stronghold about 3 miles beyond, where he had a formidable force and position. 

After accomplishing all, and obtaining all information I could, confident that the 
enemy were out of supporting distance of the gunboats and our land forces, I therefore had 
my command re-embarked in the same order as that of our advance. All of which is re- 
spectfully submitted for your consideration. 

D. B. MORRIS, Colonel Commanding Land Forces. 

Col. T. F. Lehmann, Commanding Brigade. 

[Inclosure.] 
On Board U. S. S. Valley City, July G. 1863—5 P.M. 
Maj. A. W. Gazzam, 103d Penna. Reg't. Vols.: 
Capt. Furniss, U. S. S. Valley City: 

Gentlemen: You will proceed at once to the town of Williamston, and there confer 
with the officer in command of the Confederate forces at that place. You will demand of 
him that he evacuate the town, with his forces, within one hour from the delivery of this 
communication. 

This demand is made in order to avoid the effusion of innocent blood and the de- 
struction of private property. You will inform him that we have force sufficient to take and 
occupy the town, and intend to do so. 

Respectfully, your obedient servants, 

D. B. MORRIS, Colonel 101st Regt. Penna. Vols. 

C. W. FLUSSER, Lieut. Com. and Senior Naval Officer of Expedition, 

(O. R. Ser. 1, Vol. XXVII, part II, pp. 867-871.) 

REPORT OF GEN. WESSELLS ON FOSTER'S MILLS RECONNOISSANCE. 

District of the Albermarle, Plymouth, N. C, July 30, 1863. 

Colonel : In order to divert the attention of the rebel forces on this river from a 
cavalry movement in the direction of the Weldon and Wilmington Railroad, I received 
verbal orders from the commanding general, on the 26th inst., to act against the enemy's 
lines toward Williamston and to threaten him for 48 hours, which it was supposed would 
enable the cavalry to perform their mission without interruption from this quarter. 

I accordingly directed the effective force of the First Brigade, two sections of the 
24th New York Battery, and the detachment of 12th New York cavalry, the whole under 
command of Col. Lehmann, 103d Penna. Vols., to move at once in the direction above indi- 
cated. The detachment arrived at Jamesville on Sunday, the 26th, but finding the bridge 
destroyed on the direct road, was compelled by a circuitous route to pass around the head 
of Gardner's Creek. 

On approaching the Sweetwater, the crossings were found to be destroyed and the 
enemy occupying a secure position higher up at Foster's Mills, behind an unfordable stream, 
and the bridge removed. The country was thoroughly alarmed in every direction, and 
artillery was freely used to convey the impression that a serious attack was contemplated. 
Three cavalry soldiers were wounded in attempting to cross by swimming. Believing the 
enemy to have been detained so as to render it impossible to reach the railroad in time to 
interfere with the cavalry movement, Col. Lehmann returned to this post on Tuesday, the 
28th. His report is herewith inclosed. 

In order, if possible, to ascertain the effect of the expedition, I directed a detach- 
ment of cavalry on the following morning to proceed by the same route to Foster's Mills, 
and, taking a detachment of infantry on board the Massasoit, I proceeded up the river to 
Williamston, and, landing below the town, took possession of it, a small force of the enemy 
having left there a few hours before. 

There seemed to be no information as to the movement toward Weldon. The Sweet- 
water was still occupied by a portion of the 17th [N. C. Inf'y], under Maj. [Thomas H.] 
Sharp, while Lieut. -Col. [John C] Lamb, with another detachment, was said to be at Tar- 
borough, having gone there since the raid to Rocky Mount. 

Having threatened their central position in this manner, I dropped down the river 
after dark, and returned to Plymouth the same night. The cavalry detachment surprised the 



OFFICIAL REPORTS S59 

small outpost from Foster's Mills, and captured one private, the others escaping into the 
woods. The enemy was found to be still posted in the same position, and also occupying a 
point on the creek higher up, and, as far as the prisoner knew, without any knowledge of 
the operations against the railroads. 

The swollen condition of the streams at this time, the removal of the bridges and 
the violent and almost incessant rains, flooding the flat country for the time being I'ike a 
lake, presented very serious impediments to the rapid movements of infantry. Even on 
this short march the troops suffered severely, and many of the men were badly broken down. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. W. WESSELLS, Brig.-Gen. of Vols. Comdg. 
Lieut. Col. S. Hoffman, Asst. Adjt. General. 

Plymouth, N. C, July 29, 1863. 
Sir : I have the honor to report that, in obedience to orders from the commanding 
general of this district, I proceeded with the effective force of the First Brigade, two sec- 
tions of the 24th New York Battery, and part of a company of the 12th New York Cavalry, 
on Sunday, 26th inst., toward Jamesville, on the Roanoke River, in order to create a diver- 
sion in favor of a cavalry raid from Winton toward Weldon, and to compel the enemy to 
remain in his position on the Roanoke River. 

My command arrived at Jamesville at sundown, where it was ordered to halt for the 
night. Fimling at Gardner's Bridge that things remained in the same condition I had left 
them, viz. : burned to the water's edge, and no attempt having been made by the enemy to 
rebuild it, I at once put one company of infantry, by means of canoes, on the opposite shore, 
to take possesssion of the abandoned work of the enemy, and commenced preparations to 
rebuild the bridge. 

On Monday morning, July 27, the pioneers commenced their work, but the difficulties 
of reconstructing at the high stage of water were so considerable that it required a whole 
day to make it safe for artillery, cavalry, and wagon trains to pass over. In order not to 
waste time, there being no fordable place near, I determined to march up the creek toward 
Its head, and there attempt a crossing. Thus I continued, until finding a road through the 
swamp, I succeeded in getting entirely around without meeting any other obstacles than 
those to be expected on a march through a low, swampy country. The weather was ex- 
ceedingly hot, and the troops required to be rested oftener than usual, but they reached the 
Williamston road in good order and fine spirits at about 4 P. M. Turning toward Williams- 
ton, we followed this road about four miles; then, leaving it on our right, entered the road 
to Foster's Mills, where usually a small detachment of the enemy was guarding a bridge. I 
ascertained that their force had been reinforced during the preceding night, but was unable 
to learn to what extent. It now commenced to rain heavily, but I determined before night 
to disturb the enemy and destroy the mills, if possible, well knowing that my retreat through 
the swamp would be cut off before morning by the swollen streams. I therefore immediately 
detached four companies from the 101st Penna. Vols, to pass through the woods on the 
right, and attempt by a detour to get to the rear of the pickets, now but a short distance 
from us on the road. In this they failed, the enemy having fled at the sight of one of our 
men on the road, being seen by them before the detachment had time to execute its errand. 
Although it was now growing dark, I ordered two pieces of artillery forward to destroy the 
mills, if possible; more, however, to alarm the enemy stationed at Rainbow Bluff, now within 
hearing distance of our guns. The force opposed to us had sought security behind the mills 
and some earthworks, and, a stream intervening, the bridge over which had been removed, I 
thought it prudent not to risk the lives of my men for a position not worth holding after 
gained. I ordered them, therefore, to desist in their attempt to drive them off, but continued 
to play upon them with artillery. It was now quite dark, and raining heavilv. There were 
two mills, a saw-mill on this side of the stream and a grist-mill on the other side. The 
former was destroyed. Two men of the 12th New York Cavalry were wounded seriously 
but not dangerously. Finding the road so much obstructed by felled timber as to make it 
impossible to proceed farther, and there being much danger, if the rain continued, that the 
bridge over Gardner's Creek might be washed away, I concluded to return to Jamesville 
before the passage was made impracticable, which was done during a most appalling thunder- 
storm. 

On arriving at the bridge I found that my apprehension had been well founded, for 
ill a few hours later a passage would have been impossible. The country was in great alarm 
at our approach, and I am confident that no troops have been sent away, as they expected 
to be attacked by my command at Rainbow Bluff. After resting the troops, who had on 
Monday made a long and fatiguing march, I returned safely to this place on the evening of 
the 28th, encountering on the way another furious storm. All of which is respectfully sub- 
mitted. Your obedient servant, 

T. F. LEHMANN, Col. Comd'g. Brigade. 
Capt. Andrew Stewart, Asst. Adjt. General. 
(O. R. Sen I, Vol. XXVII, part II, pp. 985-988.) 



360 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Hdqrs. Army and Dist. of North Carolina, New Bern, N. C, Feb. 23, 1864. 
General Orders, No. 20: 

The commanding general announces with satisfaction the success of an exposition sent 
to Windsor by Gen. H. W. Wessells on the 29th of January, which resulted in breaking up 
the cantonment of a company of Georgia cavalry. Some prisoners were taken and a large 
number of dangerous persons secured. Arms, horses, mules, wagons, clothing, and ammuni- 
tion were captured. Lieut. Col. Tolles was in command. He had detachments of the 103d 
and 101st Penna., 8oth New York, and 15th and 16th Conn. Vols. A small party of the 2d 
North Carolina Vols, co-operated, as well as Lieut. Com. Flusser with 50 sailors and ma- 
rines. 

By command of Maj. Gen. Peck. 

Ben. B. Foster, Asst. Adjt. General. 

(O. R. Ser. I, Vol. XXXIH, p. 106.) 

REPORT OF ACTING ASST. PAYMASTER HACKET; GUNBOAT MIAAIL 

U. S. S. Miami * * * April 19, 1864, 6 A. M. 

Sir : Last night from about 6 :30 to 8 the Miami and SouthHeld were engaged in 
shelling the enemy. On the news that the ram was below the blockade at Hyman's Ferry, 
the Soutlifield was brought alongside the Miami, and the two vessels were fastened together. 
At 3 :30 A. M. the Ceres came down from picket duty at the town (the Miami ar.d Soutlifield 
being at the lower picket station) and reported the ram coming down firing. The batteries 
on shore did not fire. 

By Capt. Flusser's command the two boats were driven ahead direct upon the ram. 
She struck the Southfield slantwise and tore a hole clear through to the boiler. Both vessels 
fired solid shot at her, but it had no effect on her slanting sides. The Southfield sank 
almost immediately. Nothing of her stores was saved. The Miami continued firing, but 
it was evident that the shot had no effect. Capt. Flusser was killed in the early part of the 
action, while pulling the lockstring of one of the guns forward. His body is being got 
ready now to be sent away on the Ceres. Capt. French and some of his officers reached the 
Miami. Others were taken prisoners. After the ram had sunk the SouthHeld she followed 
the Miami, which steamed slowly down the river, but they did us no damage. Capt. French 
has held a consultation of officers as to what had best be done under the circumstances. 

The garrison of Plymouth must be captured, as things now are. The opinion of all 
the officers who saw the ram and the effect of solid shot upon her agree that another attack 
would result only in the sinking of the Miami. I have written the above in haste by Capt. 
French's orders, as he has not time to write himself at present. * * * 

Frank W. Hackett^ Acting Asst. Paymaster. 
Commander H. K. Davenport, Senior Officer, Sounds, N. C. 

(0. R.— Naval— Ser. I, Vol. IX, pp. 638-639.) 

CONFEDERATE DISPATCHES. 

Gen. Hoke sent the following telegram to Richmond after the surrender of Gen. 
Wessells' command : 

Plymouth, April 21. 1864. 
Gen. Bragg, Richmond, Va. : 

I have stormed and captured this place, capturing 1 brigadier, 1,600 men, stores, 25 
pieces of artillery. R. F. Hoke, Brigadier-General. 

(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part II, p. 870.) 

Col. J. Taylor Wood, a member of the personal staff of President Jefferson Davis, 
was at Plymouth when the capitulation took place and wired his chief as follows : 

Plymouth, April 21, 1864. 
His Excellency President Davis, Richmond, Va. : 

Heaven has crowned our efforts with success. Gen. Hoke has captured this point, 
with 1,600 prisoners, 25 pieces of artillery, and navy co-operation. 

J. Taylor Wood, Colonel and Aide-de-Camp. 
(O. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, part II, p. 870.) 

On the third day after the surrender of Plymouth the President of the Confederacy 
sent the following telegram to Gen. Hoke : 

Richmond, Va., April 23, 1864. 
Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke (Via Rocky Mount, N. C.) : 

Accept my thanks and congratulations for the brilliant success which has attended 
your attack and capture of Plymouth. You are promoted to be a Major General from that 
date. Jefferson Davis. 

(0. R., Ser. I, Vol. LI, p. 874.) 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 361 

REGIMENTAL ROSTER. 
FIELD AND STAFF. 

Theodore F. Lehmann, Col. ; must, into serv. July 1, '61, as Lieut. Col., 62d Penna. ; pro. 

to Col. 103d Reg't, Oct. 3, '61; age 49; cap'td at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Aug. 3, '64; must, out with Reg't June 25, '65. 
Wilson C. Maxwell, Lieut. Col. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61, to rank from Nov. 16, '61 ; 

pro. from Capt. Co. I, Mar. 1, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Nov. 1, '64 ; disch. on Surg, cert., Dec. 15, '64. 
Audley W. Gazzam, maj.; must, into serv. Mar. 1, '62, to rank from Nov. 2, "61; age 26; 

transf. as Major to 5th Reg't Vet. Res. Corps, Sept. 25, '63 ; resigned Apr. 21, '65. 
James F. Mackey, Maj.; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Mar. 1, '65; disch. Mar. 12, '65, by par. 29, S. O. 121, A. G. 0. W. D., 

on account of reduction of command; subsequently must, in as Maj. to date from 

Dec. 15, '64. 
Samuel B. Kennedy, Adjt. ; must, into serv., Dec. 5, 61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Nov. 29, '62. 
William H. Irwin, Adjt. ; must, into serv. as 1st Lieut. Co. G, Jan. 10, '62 ; pro. to Adjt. 

Nov. 29, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled ; must, out and hon- 
orably discharged per S. O. 119, A. G. O., W. D., Mar. 12, '65. 
Oliver R. McNarj'-, Q. M. ; must, into serv. Mar. 1, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled; on detached service when Reg't was must. out. 
William R. Stavely, Surg. ; must, into serv., Nov. 21, '61 ; resigned Nov. 19, '62. 
Abraham P. Frick ; must, into serv. as Asst. Surg. 101st Penna. Regt., Oct. 15, '61 ; pro. 

to Surg. 103d Reg't Nov. 24, '62; capt'd at Pl>Tnouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; released, 

disch'd Jan. 25, '65. 
John Q. A. Meredith, Surg.; must, into serv. July 1, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled ; pro. to Surg. Mar. 23, '65 ; must, out with Reg't, June 25, '65. 
Theodore Jacobs. Asst. Surg. ; must, into serv., Nov. 19, '61 ; resigned June 25, '62. 
David M. Marshall, Asst. Surg. ; must, into serv. Aug. 6, '62 ; pro. to Surg. 167th Penna. 

Reg't Jan. 28, '63. 
John T. Walton, Asst. Surg. ; must, into serv.. Mar. 18, '63 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled; pro. to Surg., 78th Penna. Reg't, June 19, '65. 
McCay David, Chap.; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; disch'd on Surg. cert. May 17, '62. 
Theodore Bird, Chap. ; must, into serv. Oct. 13, '62 ; resigned Feb. 13, '63. 
John H. Rowling, Chap. ; must, into serv. Dec. 26, '63 ; disch'd May 31, '64. 
Henry H. Bell, Sergt. Maj.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; trans, from Co. G; disch'd on 
Surg. Cert, in '62. 
James H. Chambers, Sergt. Maj. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; pro. from Sergt. 

Co. C to Sergt. Maj., Feb. 6, '63; pro. to 1st Lieut. Co. F, July 4, '63. 
John C. Applegate, Sergt. Maj.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 30; pro. from Sergt. Co. 

I to Sergt. Maj., May 1, '63; hon. disch. Feb. 14, '65. 
Samuel Murphy, Sergt. Maj.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; pro. from Priv. of Co. C, Sept., 

'62; pro. to Act'g 2d Lieut. Co. K, Nov., '62. 
Watson C. Mobley, Sergt. Maj. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; pro. from 1st Sergt., 

Co. A, Apr. 19, '65 ; must, out with Reg't, June 25, 65 ; Veteran. 
Joseph B. Pollock, Q. M. Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; pro. from Sergt., Co. 

A, Jan. 1, '64 ; capt'd at PljTnouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled ; must, out with Reg't, 

June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Charles C. Lang, Hosp. Stew.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61, in Co. C; age 20; pro. to 

Hosp. Stew, at organization of Reg't ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled. 

Mar. 30, '65; hon. disch'd May 30, '65; exp. of term. 
Nerval D. Goe, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61, in Co. A; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled; pro. to Hosp. Stew. May 31, '65; must, out with Regt. June 

25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Thomas J. Laughlin, Com. Sergt.; must, into serv., Sept. 7, '61, in Co. A; age 44; trans. 

to Co. G, Dea 7, '61 ; pro. same date to Com. Sergt. ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; died at .Andersonville, Ga., Nov. 4, '64 ; Veteran. 
John R. Kron, Com. Sergt. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62, in Co. G ; pro. from Private, Co. 

G, May 18, '65; roust, out with Regt. June 20, '65; Veteran. 

COMPANY A. 

Reynolds Laughlin, Capt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 44 ; resigned Jan. 24, '63. 
Alvin H. Alexander, Capt.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 20; pro. to Capt., Jan. 25, '63; 



362 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

wounded at battle Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64 ; paroled Feb. 21, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
John M. Laughlin, 1st Lieut.; must, into serv. May. 1, '62; pro. to 2d Lieut, June 12, '62; 
to 1st Lieut., Jan. 25, '63; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Mar. 1, 
'65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
George D. Schott, 2nd Lieut. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; killed at battle of Fair 

Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Oliver McCall, 2d Lieut; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 26; appointed 1st Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co. ; pro. to 2d Lieut., Jan. 25, '63 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, 
Dec. 14, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled ; disch'd Mar. 30, '65. 
Watson C. Mobley, 1st Sergt.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 19; appointed Sergt. at 
organization of Co. ; pro. to 1st Sergt., Jan. 25, '63 ; on recruiting service when Co. 
was capt'd; returned to Reg't May 31, '64; pro. to Sergt. Maj., Apr. 19, '65; must, 
out with Reg't, June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Samuel F. Shields, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, 
N. C., Apr. 20, '64; paroled; pro. to 1st. Sergt. May 1, '65; must, out with Co., June 
25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Washington Gathers, Sergt.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 35; appointed Corp. at or- 
ganization of Co. ; pro. to Sergt. Dec. 5, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 
paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Albert Meeker, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, 

N. C ; paroled Feb. 25, '65 ; disch'd Apr. 12, '65, to date Mar. 2, '65. 
Joseph B. Pollock, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; appointed Sergt. at organi- 
zation of Co.; pro. to quarter master Sergt. Jan. 1, '64; Veteran. 
David I. Wallace, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 23 ; disch. on Surg. cert. Dec. 

5, '62. 
Joseph M. Whitehill, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; pro. to Corp., Jan. 25, 
'63; to Sergt., Jan. 1, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 24, 
'65; dis. June 17, '65; Veteran. 
James S. Cooper, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; pro. to Corp. Jan. 25, '63 ; 
capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, '64; paroled Dec. 20, '64; must, out with Co., 
June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Enoch Luther, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 36 ; pro. to Corp. Aug. 15, '62 ; disch'd. 

Apr. 7, '63. 
Alvin C. Grandy, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 32 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, 

May 31, '62. 
Smith Judson, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 37 ; pro. to Corp., Apr. 7, '63 ; capt'd 
at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; 
Veteran. 
Joseph Kremp, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; pro. Corp. Aug. 15, '62 ; wounded 
at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62; captured at P!>'mouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd Apr. 12, '65, to date Mar. 4, '65. 
Robert C. McCall, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; disch'd Feb. 26, '63. 
Thomas Moore, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 32 ; trans, to Co. G, Jan. 3, '62. 
Joseph Moyer, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; pro. to Corp. Dec. 5, '62 ; capt'd 
at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; must, out with Co., June 25, 65; Veteran. 
Elias Myers, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 33; pro. to Corp. Aug. 15, '62; wounded 

at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62; disch'd Jan. 11, '64. 
Thomas G. Pollock, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 27 ; died June 9, '62, of typhoid 
fever at Yorktown, Va. ; buried in National Cemetery, Yorktown, section C, grave 113, 
John F. Rupert, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 21; pro. to Corp., Aug. 15, '62; 
capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd June 16, '65; 
Veteran. 
Joseph B. Stewart, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 25, '61; age 23; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '64; 
capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., June 29, '64; 
grave, 2,650 ; Veteran. 
Cornelius G. W. Stover. Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; pro. to Corp. Feb. 26, 
'63; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 23, '64; must, out with Co. 
June 25, '65; Veteran. 
John B. Wallace. Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 31 ; disch'd June 20, '62. 
Jacob Weaver, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 31 ; trans, to Co. G, Jan. 3, '62. 
Alexander Wishard. Wagoner ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '63 ; age 33 ; capt'd at Plymouth, 
N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Richmond, Va., Dec. 20, '64; per. deposition of Corp. 
Joseph Moyer ; Veteran. 
Calvin B. Alt, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 20; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, 65; Veteran. 
David Anderson ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; trans, to Co. F, Dec. 7, '61. 
Lewis Barlett, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; trans, to Co. C, Dec. 7, '61. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 363 

Daniel Barnacle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Jacob Barr (of Henry), must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 24; wounded at battle of Fair 

Oaks, May 31, '62 ; died from wounds June 26, '62. 
Jacob Barr (of Stephen), must, into serv. Sept. 7, '62; age 22; deserted, Feb. 1, '62. 
Stephen P. Barr, must, into serv. Dec. 25, '61 ; age 40 ; died in General Hospital at York- 
town, Va., May 23, '62. 
Philip Bashlico, date of muster not given ; disch'd Apr. 7, '63. 
Reed G. Beggs, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John R. Bowman, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

May 31, '62 ; died of wounds July 27, '62. 
Martin Bowman, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; died at Suffolk, Va., Oct. 20, '62. 
Thomas J. Callen, must, into serv. Feb. 27, '64; must, out with Co. at New Bern, N. C, 

June 25, '65. 
William Campbell, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; trans, to 112th Regt. Penna. Vol. 
James Carroll, must, into serv., Sept. 7, 61 ; age 40 ; disch'd Feb. 17, '63. 
Oliver W. Colwell, must, into serv. Dec. 25, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
William E. Colwell, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; disch'd Jan. 30,- '63. 
John F. Cooper, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 22; disch'd June 20, '62. 
William B. Cunningham, must, into serv. Sept. 7, 1861; age 22; wounded at battle of Fair 
Oaks, May 31, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, '64; died shortly after re- 
leased from Confederate prison, Dec. 28, '64; Veteran. 
William G. Davis, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 

'64; died in Andersonville Aug. 20, '64; grave 6,316; Veteran. 
David Dehart, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 38; disch'd June 16. '62. 
Matthew H. Dunkle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 16 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va., May 31, '62; disch'd Nov. 24, '62. 
Peter M. Dunkle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; captured at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Preston Dunkle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 25 ; disch'd Sept. 24, '62. 
Thomas Dunkle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 40; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, May 

31, '62 ; trans, to Veteran Reserve Corps ; must, out Sept. 7, '64. 
Watson Dunkle, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; died on board steamer Elm City on 

passage to New York City June 21, '62. 
•George Echelbarger, must, into serv. Aug. 18, '62; captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 
'64; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 14, '62; died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 
27, '64. 
Reed C. Elder, must, into serv. Feb. 27, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Philander Everett ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; no further record; Veteran. 
David R. Frampton, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 29 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, 
Dec 14, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; 
Veteran. 
Justus George, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 

'62; must. out. Sept. 9, '64, to date Sept. 7, '64; expiration of term. 
Thomas M. George, must, into serv. Aug. 18, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, '64; 

died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 13, '64. 
David P. Gilgher, must, into serv. Feb. 29, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
James Goe, must, into serv.. Sept. 7, '61; age 16 disch'd June 20, '62. 
Nerval D. Goe, must, into "serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 

'64; paroled; promoted to hospital steward. May 31, '65; Veteran. 
Reed Goe, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '62 ; age 50 ; disch'd July 14, '62. 
Andrew Guiher, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; wounded and captured at Plymouth, 

N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled in Dec, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
■Clark Guiher, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; captured at Plymouth, 'N. C, April 20, 

'64 ; paroled ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Isaac Guiher, must, into serv., Sept. 7, '61 ; age 40 ; died at Newport News, Va., May 15, 

'62. 
Jacob B. Guiher, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
John C. Guiher, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 23 ; capt'd at Pl>Tnouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd June 28, '65; Veteran. 
George Hahn, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 25 ; wounded at Kinston, N. C, Dec 14, 
'62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; died at Camp Parole, 
Dec. 26, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave, 251 ; Veteran. 
James R. Haun, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '64; age 20; prisoner of war fr. Apr. 20, '64, until 



364 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Feb. 28, '65 ; disch'd June 30, '65, in accordance with telegram from W. D., dated 

May 4, '65 ; Vetercir.. 
Amos Highbarger, must, into serv. Sept. 7, 1861 ; age 18 ; disch'd for disability Feb. 24, '62. 
Israel D. Hughes, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 28 ; captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 

20, '64; died at Florence, S. C, Oct. 21, '64; Veteran. 
Andrew S. Keifer, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; captured at Plymouth, N. C, April 

20, '64 ; paroled in Dec., '64 ; absent on furlough when Co. was must, out ; Veteran. 
John N. Kiester, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 

"64; died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 13, '64; burial record, Aug. 15, '64; grave 5,718; 

Veteran. 
Simeon H. Kiester, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 20; trans, to 7th N. Y. Ind. Batt'y, 

Sept. 24, '63; re-enlisted Dec. 18, '63; must, out with battery, July 22, '65, at Albany, 

N. Y. 
Edward Kremp, must, into serv. Feb. 1, '62 ; age 18 ; wounded at Kinston, N. C, Dec. 4, 

'62 ; capt'd April 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 16, '64 ; 

grave 3,471 ; Veteran. 
Thomas J. Laughlin, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 44; trans, to Co. G, Dec. 7, '61 j 

Veteran. 
Jacob Lecky, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 43 ; disch'd for disability, Nov. 16, '61. 
James H. Lobaugh, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; deserted from Mt. Pleasant Hospital, 

Washington, D. C, Jan. 20, '63. 
Clarion J. Logue, must, into serv. Mar. 9, '64 ; age 24 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
David Logue, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64; died May 9, '64, at Phila., Pa. 
John H. Logue, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64; never joined Co. 

Oliver R. Logue, must, into serv. Mar. 9, '64; age 19; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Edward W. Loughner, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; wounded at battle of Fair 

Oaks, May 31, '62 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62, dying therefrom, 

Dec. 18, '62. 
John Loughner, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 19; capt'd April 20, '64, at battle of Ply- 
mouth, N. C. ; died shortly after his release at Annapolis, Md., May 8, '65; buried 

in U. S. Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 871 ; Veteran. 
George W. Luther, must, into serv. Mar. 4, '64; age 18; died of typhoid fever, Oct. 25, '64, 

at Roanoke Island, N. C ; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1182. 
Sylvester McCall, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks,. 

May 31, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec, 64; must, out with 

Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John L. McCoy, must, into serv. Mar. 8, '64; age 21; arrived at regiment May 16, '64; 

no muster and description rolls came with him; died at U. S. Gen. Hos., Foster, 

New Bern, N. C, June 7, '64, of typhoid fever. 
George W. Miller, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 27; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 7, '61. 
William R. Miller, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Samuel A. Mooney, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; trans, to Co. F, Dec. 7, '61. 
Adam Myers, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64* 

paroled Dec, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Conrad R. Myers, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'd June 26, '63. 
John Myers, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 27 ; trans, to Co. E, Dec. 7, '61. 
John M. Neely, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 30; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20,. 

'64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd June 1, '65, to date Mar. 1, '65. 
George W. Paup, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 29; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks,. 

Va., May 31, '62; disch'd Oct. 8, '62. 
George R. Power, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd on Surg, cert.. Mar. 28, '63. 
George W. Reedy, must into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd on Surg, cert, Nov. 1, '64. 
Samuel Reedy, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; deserted Nov. 13, '61. 
Andrew Reese; must. Dec. 25, '61; age 24; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31,. 

'62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 20, '65; disch'd May 27,. 

'65 ; Veteran. 
Isaiah Reese, must, into serv., Mar. 3, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
James W. Richardson, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr.. 

20, 64; paroled, Feb. 28, '65; disch'd June 6, '65; Veteran. 
John Rider, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; deserted Nov. 1, '61. 
Sylvester G. Rosansteel, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20,. 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 1, '64; Veteran. 
Albert M. Russell, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 16; trans, to Co. G, Dec. 7, '61. 
Amaziah Saxton, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 26; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20,. 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Oct. 24, '64; Veteran. 
Hezekiah Saxton, must into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 24 ; dich'd on Surg, cert.. Mar. 28, '63. 
Uriah Saxton, must, into serv., Sept. 7, '61; age 20; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 7, '61. 
William H. Say, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., June 16, '62- 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 365 

Henry Schorman, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 30 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Dec. 8, '64; Veteran. 
George Shakely, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 30; trans, to Co. G, Dec. 7, '61. 
Joseph Sheffler, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 24; died of heart disease at Plymouth, 

N. C., Feb. 19, '64. 
Walter R. Smail, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 20; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec. 5, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Hiram Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 26 ; disch'd Feb. 22, '63. 
James Smith, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
John M. Smith, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64 ; age 19 ; must, out with Co.. June 25, '65. 
Patrick Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 21; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled; disch'd Aug. 3, '65, to date June 25, '65; Veteran. 
James Stanford, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 38 ; disch. on Surg. Cert. Feb. 18, '62. 
Isaac Stants, must, into serv. Sept 7, '61 ; age 37 ; died on or about June 1, '62 at hospital at 

Newport News, Va. 
Gazzam Stewart, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Daniel Svveetwood, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 39 ; taken prisoner during "Seven Days 

Battles ;" paroled and died at Fourth and George Sts. Hospital, Phila., Pa., July 31, '62. 
William Taylor, must, into serv. Sept 7, '61 ; age 31 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, Sept. 25, '63 

disch. from serv. Nov. 20, '63, while at New Ark, N. J., on Surg. Cert. 
John Texter, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'd on Surg. Cert., Sept. 26, '62. 
Robert C. Thorn, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 37 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 14, '64 ; disch'd Apr. 12, '65 ; to date Dec. 21, '64. 
William H. H. Thomas, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 23; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va., May 31, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; and disch'd (by 

reason of loss of right toe, from exposure to cold while a prisoner of war) July 6, '65, 

(from hospital at Phila., Pa.) ; Veteran. 
Milton Thompson, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; trans, to Co. F, Dec. 7, '61. 
Absalom S. Timms, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Daniel N. Titus, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; wounded at Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, 

'62; died at Beaufort, N. C, Dec 17, '63; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, 

plat 7, grave 1,156. 
William Titus, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; died in Regimental hospital. Camp Orr, 

Kittanning, Pa., Feb. 5, '62. 
David L. Vandyke, must, into serv. Aug. 18, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Oct. 1, '64 ; grave 10,158. 
Joseph K Vaughn, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 : age 35 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 15, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 

8,791 ; Veteran. 
Thomas J. Watson, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; died on the Peninsula, Apr. 10, '62. 
William Whitman, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; disch'd on Surg. Cert. Nov. 1, '61. 
Henry B. Wilhelm, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; disch'd on Surg. Cert., July 19, '62. 
James S. Wilhelm, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 23 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Oct. 28, '64; Veteran. 
George R. Williams, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
John Williams, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 : age 37 ; disch'd on Surg. Cert. Feb. 20, '63. 
Jeremiah P. Wilson, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; was taken prisoner at battle of 

Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; exchanged shortly; returned to Regiment; wounded and 

captured at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; 

Veteran. 
Newton I. Wilson, must, into serv. Dec. 25, '61 ; age 21 ; died on board transport on voyage 

from Harrison's Landing, Va., to Phila., Pa., on or about Aug. 13, '62. 
William A. Wilson, must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64 ; age 19 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
William Wion, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 25, '64 ; Veteran. 

COMPANY B. 

George W. Gillespie, Capt., must, into serv. Sept. 9, '61 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, '62 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Seven Pines, Va. 
Joseph Rodgers, Capt., must, into serv. Sept. 10, '61; pro. fr. 1st Lieut. June 5, '62; resigned 

Jan. 24, '63. 
Daniel L. Coe, Capt., must, into serv. Sept. 12, '61 ; pro. fr. 2d Lieut, to 1st Lieut. June 5, '62 ; 

to Capt. Jan. 25, '63 ; resigned Nov. 9, '63. 
Solomon Barnhart, 1st Lieut., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '63 ; pro. fr. serg't to 2d Lieut. Jan. 

25, '63; to 1st Lieut. July 1. '63; resigned Oct. 26, '63. 



366 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

George W. Stoke, 2d Lieut., must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; trans, from Co. D. Oct. 31, '63 ; 

commanded Co. fr. Nov. 9, '63 to Apr. 20, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr._^20,. 

'64 ; escaped from prison at Columbia, S. C, and was must, out with Co. June 26, '65. 
James Adams, 1st serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; pro. to Capt. Co. K, Feb. 22, '62. 
George VV. Swartzlander, 1st serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; pro. fr. Corp. Feb. 7, '62; 

Com. 2d Lieut. July, '63; not must.; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; sup- 
posed to have died in prison. 
William T. Bair, serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 23; pro. to serg't Jan. 2, '64; 

capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 20, '65; disch. by G. O. June 8, 

'65 ; Veteran. 
Robert M. Crawford, Serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 43 ; appointed Sergt. at 

organization of Co.; trans, to Vet., Res. Corps., date not given; Veteran. 
Thomas Hart, Serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 22 ; appointed Corp. on organization 

of Co.; pro. to Serg't Jan 2, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Cyrus K. Mckee, Serg't, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 23; appointed serg't on organiza- 
tion of Co.; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, 

N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Charleston, S. C, Dec. 7, '64; Veteran. 
Daniel L. Rankin, Sergt., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; pro. to Corp. Jan. 2, '64; capt'd at 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 10, '64; pro. to Sergt. May 1, '65; must 

out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Charles "VV. Rumbaugh, Sergt., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; pro. to Corp. Jan. 2. 

'64 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C. ; paroled Feb. 20, '65 ; pro. to Sergt. May 1, '65 ; disch'd 

by G. O., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James M. Carson, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; died at Whitehouse Landing, 

Va., June 13, '62, of typhoid fever. 
James H. Crawford, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 26; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., prison, Sept. 7, '64; grave 8,117. 
Sherman M. Criswell, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 26; capt'd at Plymouth, N. 

C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 10, '64; Veteran. 
Samuel J. Gibson, Corp., must, into serv. Nov. 1, '61 ; age 29 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 16, '64 ; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 14. '65, to date Dec. 22, '64. 
William Harrison, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 41 ; disch'd Feb. 20, '63. 
Thomas Hays, Corp.. must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 20; trans, to 4th U. S. Arty.; hon. 

disch'd Nov. 13, '64. 
John S. McElhany, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 27 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C.» 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd by G. 0.. Apr. 24, '65, to date Mar. 1, '65. 
Isaac Shakely, Corp., must, into serv. Aug. 15, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; pro. to Corp. May 1, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Isaac Swartzlander, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; died Mar. 1, '65 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Wilmington, N. C. ; grave 984. 
George Watterson, Corp., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; pro. to Corp. May 1, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
Harrison W. Coe, musi., must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec, '64; absent on furlough when Co. was must, out; Veteran. 
Andrew Rodgers, musi., must, into serv. Aug. 13, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; e.xch. at Charleston, S. C, Dec. 16, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Abram Adams, wagoner, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 24 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64 at 

Plymouth, N. C. ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 28, '65, to date Mar. 1, "65. 
Augustus Abel, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; absent on detached service in battery 

of artillery from Aug. 31, '62 ; returned to regiment in June, '64, after his Co. had 

been captured at Plymouth, N. C. ; detailed for special duty at Provost Marshal's 

office, Roanoke Island, N. C, June 20, '64; disch'd at e.xpiration of term Dec. 23, '64. 
Isaac Barnhart, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; detailed Apr. 6, '62, to serve in 8th 

N. Y. Independent Battery; disch'd Sept. 24, '64, on expiration of term. 
Robert Barr, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; 

paroled Dec 11, '64; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 2, '65, to date Dec 17, '64. 
Mathias C. Beamer, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 38 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 4, '61. 
Henry L. Benninger, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
John B. Bish, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 26 ; missing in action at battle Fair Oaks, 

Va., May 31, '62. 
Owen Boyle, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 50; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 4, '61. 
James Brenneman, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, 

N. C. ; paroled Dec 11. '64; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 28, '65, to date Dec 17, '64. 
Lewis A. Brenneman, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 4, '61. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 367 

Reuben Burford, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., June 4, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., grave 1,601; Veteran. 
William Burford, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 18; des., date not given. 
Alfred Campbell, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 19; died at Camp Casey, Va., Apr. 8, '62. 
Joshua A. Campbell, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 22 ; marked on rolls as deserter. 

Claims to have honorable discharge dated Jan. 3, '63. 
Benjamin F. Coe, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Alexander Craig, must, into serv. Oct. 12, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd, date not given. 
John A. Crawford, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 24 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville, Sept. 8, '64, grave 8,117. 
James Cumberland, must, into serv. Dec. 10, '61; age 34; disch'd, date not given. 
David Daubenspeck, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, "64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James T. Day, must, into serv. Mar. 30, '64 ; age 18 ; arrived reg't May 5, '64 ; must, out with 

Co., June 25, '65. 
Barney Deany, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 17; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va 

May 31, '62. 
Thomas J. Devinny, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; paroled and died at Camp Parole Hospital, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 17, '64; buried 
in U. S. Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md., grave mark No. 438; Veteran. 
Alexander Dunlap, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; died Oct. 26, '62, at Phila., Pa. 
Michael C. Eminger. must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 32 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; no further record; Veteran. 
John P. Erwin, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C. Apr 20 

'64 ; paroled Mar. 13, '65 ; disch'd by G. O., June 29, '65 ; Veteran. 
John Foster, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 28, '64 ; buried in Nat. Gem., grave 7,097. 
Lorenzo W. Frantz, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 18; killed at battle of Fair Oaks. Va . 

May 31, '62. 
Gideon W. Gibson, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
John A. Gibson, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Stewart Gilchrist, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; trans, to Vet. Res. Corp., date not given. 
Samuel Granville, must, into serv. as Co. cook (colored) Nov. 3, '63; missing in action, 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64. 
Ephraim Hankey, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 26; died at Washington, D. C, Apr. 

16, '62. 
John B. Hankey, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 24 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr 20, 

'64 ; died at Salisbury, N. C, July 9, '62. 
Robert Harper, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 30, '64; grave 10,109; Veteran. 
John M. Hays, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 : trans, to 4th U. S. Artillery. 
Robert Hayes, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Hezekiah Hayes, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr 20 

'64 ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; dis. by G. O., Apr. 5, '65, to date Mar. 1, '65. 
John L. Hile, must into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 36 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

no further record; Veteran. 
Simon Hile, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 30 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Jackson Hilliard, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 22; died June 14, '62, at Yorktown, Va. 
Peter Hilliard, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20,' '64; 

paroled and died soon thereafter. 
Alexander C. Jackson, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 26 ; died, date not given. Reported 

as hon. disch'd. 
John M. Jones, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 35 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville, Aug. 16, '64. 
David W. Jordan, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 21; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 5, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., grave 2,914; 
Veteran. 
Newton Joseph, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; killed on picket line at Fair Oaks Va . May 

29, '62. 
Andrew Judson, must, into serv. Nov. 1, '61 ; age 25 ; trans, to 4th reg. U. S. Art. 
William D. Keefer, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 20; trans, to Co. F, Dec. 31, '63; 

Veteran. 
Richard Kelley, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; disch'd Feb. 10, '63. 
William Kennedy, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; died Apr., '64, at Roanoke Isl., N. C. 
Aaron W. Lang, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N C Apr 20 
'64; paroled Feb. 26, '65; disch'd by G. O., July 5, '65. ■ -, f ■ . 



368 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Joseph McCay, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; died June 15, '62 ; buried in Nat. Cem., 

Yorktown, Va., Sec. D., grave 257. 
Matthew J. McCay, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; died at AndersonviUe, Ga., June 24, '64 ; grave 2,411 ; Veteran. 
Robert McCleary, must, into serv. Dec. 1, '61; age 32; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, 1862. 
Harvey B. T. McClure, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 27 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 

20, '64; died Mar. 15, '65, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in U. S. Nat. Cem., Annapolis, 

Md., grave 15; Veteran. 
Thomas L. McQure, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. €., Apr. 

20, '64; died after paroled on transport Baltic en route to Annapolis, Dec. 22, '64; 

buried in U. S. Nat. Gem., Annapolis, Md., grave 841 ; Veteran. 
John Wesley McCool, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd Mar. 3, '63. 
Henry Montgomery, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va., May 31, '62 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Orrin Payne, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 44; disch'd Jan. 7, '63. 
William Penburthy, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 24 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Conrad Petsinger, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; disch'd by G. O., June 12, '65 ; Veteran. 
William G. Pierce, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 22; disch'd, date not given. 
Samuel Pool, must, into serv. Dec. 1, '61; age 22; disch'd, date not given. 
Benjamin Rankin, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 19; died, date not given. 
James Rankin, must, into serv. Feb. 25, '64; age 18; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Jacob Reese, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 35; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at AndersonviUe, Ga., Aug. 17. '64 ; grave 5,912. 
William Reese, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 29 ; died at Phila., Pa., Aug. 25, '62. 
Nehemiah Reeser, must, into serv. Mar. 16, '64; age 27; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Alexander Regus, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 18 ; died at White House Landing, Va., 

June 14, '62, of typhoid fever. 
Henry Regus, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 41 ; died, date not given. 
James Ritchey, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 26; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at AndersonviUe, Ga., Aug. 5, '64; grave 4,844; Veteran. 
Hamilton Robb, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 22 ; died Apr. 10, '62, at Washington, D. C. 
Sylvester G. Rosensteel, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; trans, to Co. K., Feb., '63. 
David Ross, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at AndersonviUe, Ga., Aug. 12, '64; grave 5,389; Veteran. 
Joseph Rumbaugh, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Samuel S. Sanderson, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 19; died at White House Landing, 

Va., June 12, '62 of typhoid fever. 
John Scharem, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; cap't at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
Daniel K. Shakely, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 20 ; disch'd, date not given. 
George W. Shakely, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; disch'd by G. O., June 19, '65 ; Veteran. 
Henry C. Shakely, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, May 

31, '62. 
Matthew Sherlock, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 31 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20 

'64; died Dec. 29, '64, at Camp Parole Hospital; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. 

grave 1,507. 
James F. Shields, must, into serv. Sept 24, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd Sept. 24, '64, at exp. of term 
Presley Sloan, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; died June 2, '62, of typhoid fever. 
Uriah Sloan, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 

paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 28, to date Mar. 1, '65. 
Abram W. Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 

paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; must, out Apr. 29, '65, to date Mar. 1, '65 ; Veteran. 
Albert William Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 

paroled ; disch'd by G. O., June 12, '65. 
Nicholas Snow, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 26 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20 

'64; died at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 11. '65, shortly after paroled; buried in U. S. Gen 

Hos. Cem., Annapolis, Md., grave 256; Veteran. 
Abram Snyder, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; disch'd by G. O., Mar. 15, '65, to date Dec. 16, '64. 
John Sowers, must, into serv. Apr. 14, '64; age 25; came to reg't May 14, '64; must, out 

with Co., June 25, '65. 
Joseph Sowers, must, into serv. Apr. 14, '64; age 20; came to reg't May 14, '64; must, out 

with Co., June 25, '65. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 369 

William Sowers, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 16 ; disch'd, date not given. 

James Sweet, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 16 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

John Sweet, must, into serv. Mar. 16, '64; age 25; came to reg't May 31, '64; must, out with 

Co., June 25, '65. 
Charles M. Truby, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd by G. O., June 19, '65; Veteran. 
David Walley, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Michael White, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Mar. 18, '65 ; disch'd by G. O., May 8, '65, to date Mar. 18, '65. 
Peter Williams, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62 ; disch'd, date not given. 
James Wolft, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'r on Surg, cert., Dec. 4, '61. 
William D. Woodruff, must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; age 30 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 16, '64, grave 3,384. 

COMPANY C. 

Simon P. Townsend, Capt. ; must, into serv., Sept. 16, '61 ; age 34 ; resigned July 7, '62. 
Albert Fahnestock, Capt ; must, into serv., Sept. 16, '61 ; age 27 ; pro. to Capt. July 7, 

'62; resigned Jan. 14, '63. 
John M. Cochran, Capt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 22 ; pro. to 1st Lieut., July 7, 

'62 ; to Capt Jan. 14, '63 ; disch'd June 16, '63. 
Thomas A. Cochran, Capt. ; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 24 ; appointed 1st Sergt. or- 
ganization of Co.; pro. to 2d Lieut. July 7, '62; to 1st Lieut Jan. 14, '63; to Capt. 

July 1, '63 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
James Madison Wilson, 1st Lieut ; must. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; appointed Corp. at orgfani- 

zation of Co.; pro. to Sergt., May 1, '62; to 1st Sergt., July 7, '62; to 2d Lieut, Jan. 

14, '63 ; to 1st Lieut, July 1, '63 ; must out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Baptist H. Scott, 2d Lieut. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 25 ; pro. to 1st Sergt. Jan. 14, 

'63; pro. to 2d Lieut June 16, '63; disch'd on exp. term, Sept 16, '64. 
Wilson S. Cochran, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; appointed Corp. at 

organization of Co. ; pro. to Sergt. Jan. 1, '64 ; to 1st Sergt., Sept 20, '64 ; must, out 

with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
William N. Barr, Sergt.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 28; disch'd on Surg. cert.. Mar 

11, '63. 
James H. Chambers, Sergt. ; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; appointed Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co. ; appointed color bearer when Regiment was organized ; pro. to 

Sergt. Mai. Feb. 6. 'fi.S. 
William T. Coleman, Sergt.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 22; disch'd Sept. 16, '64; exp. 

of term. 
Robert M. Dunn, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 20 ; pro. to Sergt., Nov. 1, '63 ; 

disch'd on exp. of term, Sept. 16, '61. 
Samuel M. Evans, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 18 ; pro. to Corp. Apr. 22, '62 ; 

wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62 ; pro. to Sergt. Sept 20, '64 ; must. 

out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John A. Gwinn, Sergt.; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 21; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '64; to 

Sergt. Sept 20, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John Low, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 24 ; appointed Corp. at organization of 

Co.; pro. to Sergt. Apr. 14, '63; disch'd on exp. of term, Sept. 16, '64. 
William McElfresh, Sergt., must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 17; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '64; 

must out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
David Scarem, Sergt.; must, into serv., Sept. 16, '61; age 23; wounded at battle of Fair 

Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; trans, to Vet. Rec. Corps, Sept. 24, '63. 
William J. Stoup, Sergt. ; must into serv Sept. 16. '61 ; age 19 ; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '64 ; to 

Sergt. Mar. 1, '65; must, out with Co., June 25, 65; Veteran. 
William P. Courter, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 22; appointed Corp. at or- 
ganization of Co.; died May 26, '62, Rose Hill Hospital, Phila., Pa., of wounds re- 
ceived accidentally, at Camp Winfield Scott 
Salem Crum, Corp-; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 24; appointed Corp. Feb 16 '62 

disch'd May 13, '62; on Surg. cert. 
Luther S. Dickey, Corp.; must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 16; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '65 

must out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Francis M. Fleming, Corp. ; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 17 ; pro. to Corp. Mar. 1, '65 

must out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
George F. Forward, Corp.; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 16; pro. Corp. Jan. 1, '65 

must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Samuel A. Kier, Corp.; must into serv. Sept 16. '61; age 18; pro. to Corp., Jan. 1, '64; must 

out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
William Leech, Corp. ; must into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 26 ; trans, to Vet. Rec. Corps , Dec 
1, '63. 



370 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Thomas J. McKee, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; wounded at battle of Kins- 
ton, N. C, Dec. 16, '61 ; pro. to Corp. Nov. 1, '63 ; disch'd on exp. of term, Sept. 16, '64. 

George W. Pifer, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 17; pro. to Corp. Mar. 1, '65; 
must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 

Andrew J. Scott, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 32 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., June 
20, '63. 

Isaac W. Warner, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 19; pro. to Corp. May 1, '62; 
dish'd on Surg. cert. June 20, '63. 

Robert M. Watson, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; wounded at battle of Kins- 
ton, N. C., Dec. 14, '62; pro. to Corp., Mar. 1, '65; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; 
Veteran. 

Andrew M. Wilson, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 18 ; appointed Corp. at or- 
ganization of Co.; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 

John C. Austin, Musi.; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; appointed drummer at or- 
ganization of Co. ; must, out Sept. 16, '64 ; exp. of term. 

Lewis Barlett, must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 18; trans, from Co. A as fifer; must, out 
with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 

Dallas B. Taylor, Music. ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; must out with Co. June 25, 
'65; Veteran. 

PRIVATES. 

David Altman ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Feb. 17, '62. 
William Altman; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 21; died June 30, '62, during "Seven 

Days Battle," between White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. 
Henry M. Ammendt ; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 41 ; capt'd at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va. May 31, '62; exchanged and returned to Co. in Aug., '62; disch'd on Surg. cert. 

Apr. 26, '63. 
Philip Anthony; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 29; disch'd Sept 16. '64, at exp. of term. 
Tomer Anthony; must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 31; died during "Seven Days' Battle," 

between White Oak Swamp and MaJvern Hill, June 30, '62. 
Joseph Austin; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 17; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec, 

16, '62 ; received two fatal shots almost instantly, one in brain and one near heart. 
Adam Bargerstock; must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 22; disch'd at exp. of term, Sept 

16, '64. 
Robert Bash ; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 30 r must out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James Beatty; must into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 40; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar. 28, '63. 
Thomas McC. Beer; must, into serv. Feb. 29, '64; age 18; must, out with Co., June 25, 65. 
Jacob Beighley; must. Sept 16, '61; age 19; deserted June 30, '62. 
Winfield Scott Birch ; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 16 ; trans, to Vet Res. Corps, Sept 

24, '62. 
James Canfield; must, into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 42; disch'd on Surg, cert., Jan. 13, '63. 
Woodward Carter; must, into serv. Aug. 13, '64; age 21; never joined Co. 
John Clark ; must into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 41 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62; disch'd on Surg. cert. Apr. 1, '63. 
George W. Cochran; must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 16; disch'd on Surg, cert, Dec. 4, '63. 
William W. Cochran ; must into serv. June 10, '63 ; age 18 ; died of chronic diarrhea, at 

Plymouth, N. C, Jan. 6, '64 ; buried in Nat Cem., New Bern, N. C. ; plot 7, grave 1,205. 
Thomas Connell, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 42; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, '62 ; must, out Sept 16, '64, exp. of term. 
Dennis Connor, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; must out Sept 16, '64, exp. of term. 
George Couch, must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; deserted Dec. 24, '61. 
John Couch, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 19 ; deserted Dec. 24, '61. 
Luther Cribbs, must into serv. Sept. 16, ''61; age 26; detached for duty in 8th New York 

Ind. Battery; died July 15, '62, on board hospital ship. 
Adam Davis, must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 24; deserted Feb., '62. 
Jackson Davis, must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., June 20, '63. 
John Davis, must, into serv. Feb. 10, '62; age 19; disch'd by civil authority, Feb. 21, '62, by 

Habeas Corpus. 
Solomon A. Dentzell, must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 22 ; died June 20, '62, of tjT)hoid fever 

at hospital near White Oak Swamp, Va. 
David H. Dickason, must into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 16 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., Sept 1, '62. 
David M. Dickey, must, into serv. Mar. 14, '65 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
William Dougherty, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 44 ; disch'd on Surg, cert.. Mar. 28, '63. 
James^lgin, must, into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 27; must, out Sept 16, '64, at exp. of terra. 
Samii^^lgin, must, into serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 29 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, Dec. 14, 
^iV/r^PBT; trans f. to Vet Res. Corps July 27, '63. 
jSinuel'Findley, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; 

Veteran. 
Samuel Findley, 2d; must, into serv. Sept. 21, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 371 



Alexander Fleming, must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; wounded at Kinston, N. C, Dec. 
14, '62; disch'd by reason of wounds, Apr. 9, '63. 

John Fleming, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; must, out Sept. 16, '64, at exp. of term. 

Benjamin Franklin, must into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 22 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Sept. 3, '62 ; 
re-musl. Apr. 6, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '64. 

John J. Gallagher, must, into serv. Jan. 13, '62; age 21; capt'd June 20, '62, taken to Rich- 
mond ; exchanged, returned to Co. at Harrison's Landing ; must, out with Co. June 25 
'65 ; Veteran. 

Jeremiah George, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Nov. 2, '62. 

Jacob Gilby, must, into serv. Feb. 23, '62; age 27; deserted from Co. near Warwick Court 
House, Va., Apr. 16, '62. 

John Goudy, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 31 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Sept. 16, '63. 

John Graden, must, into serv. Feb. 13, '62 ; age 29 ; disch'd Feb. 13, '65, at exp. of term. 

Thomas Hammer, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 44; disch'd on Surg. cert. Feb. 5, '63. 

Martin Harkleroad, must, into serv. Feb. 13, '62; age 23; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; 
Veteran. 

William Harkleroad, must, into serv. Dec. 26, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Dec. 26, '62. 

William Hays, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 18 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar. 9, '64 

David Hetrick, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 28 ; absent sick when Co. was must. out. 

George D. Hetrick, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; wounded at battle of Kinston N C 
Dec. 14, '62 : must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

Peter W. Hetrick, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 29 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar. 3 '63 

Hezekiah Hilty, must, into serv. Mar. 15, '65 ; age 20 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 

J. Hines died July 9, '65, of cerebro spinal meningitis at St. James U. S. A. General Hospi- 
tal, Baltimore, Md. In list of effects is credited to Co. C. 103d; no other record of 
him is found. 

John L. Jones, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 26; disch'd on exp. of term Sept 16 '64 

David A. Kennedy, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 28 ; transf. to Signal Corp Nov 1 ''62 

David Kmgmore, must, mto serv. Aug. 13, '64; age 21; never joined Co 

James E Lafferty; arrived at Co. July 21, '64, without des. list; absent sick at Jarvis Hospi- 
tal, Baltimore, Md., when Co. was must. out. 

Charles C. Lang, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; pro. to Hosp. Steward, when Regi- 
ment was organized. 

Jacob Linsenbigler, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 17 ; disch'd on Surg, cert Mar 23 '63 
Emanuel Lore, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ■ Veteran' 
James McCroskey, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 34; disch'd on exp. of term Sept 16 '64* 
Joseph McGuire, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 16 ; deserted Dec. 24, '61 *- • • 

Joseph Mclntire, must, into serv. Feb. 1, '62 ; age 30 ; died in hospital, Ph'ila Pa Aug 24 '62 
George W McKee must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 19; disch'd on exp. of temi Sept 16,' '64' 
William M. McKilhp, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 17; must, out with Co June 25 '65- 
Veteran. ' ' 

Thomas A. Meredith, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; killed at battle of Fair Oaks Va 

May 31, '62. ' '' 

S^v^^ ^°sbaughel, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 33; disch'd on Surg, cert Feb 17 '63 

William J. Murdock, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 19 ; died June 27, '62 of tyohoi'd fever' 

at hospital near White Oak Swamp, Va. > jy , 

Samuel Murphy, must, into serv. SepL 16, '61; age 29; must, out at exp. of term Sept 16 '64 
John Noble, must mto serv. Sept 16, '61 ; age 16 ; must, out with Co. June 25 '65 Veteran' 
Crowder Pacien, must into serv. Apr. 4. '64 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co. June 25 ''65 
Henry Pifer, must into serv. Mar. l,/64 ; age 18; died Aug. 14, '64; at Roanoke 'island, 
r- ,,r •'r,°^ typhoid fever; buried in Nat Cem., New Bern, N. C. plot 7 (jrave 1 119 

George W. Pontious, must into serv. Sept 3, '63; age 19; must out With Co. June 25 ''65 
jl^^y^^^' ni"st mto serv. Sept 16, '61; age 28; deserted Dec. 24 '61 ' ' 

{^rv- ni^- ^"'*- '"^° ^^''^- Sept. 16, '61; age 32; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar. 28, '63 
WiHiarn G. Risher, must mto serv. Sept 16. '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd on Surg, cert Jan 13 '62 
Edward Rogers, must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 41; wounded on Blackwater expedi'tion,' 

near Frankim, Va., Oct 3. '62; leg amputated; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar 12 '63 
Israel Sadler, must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 22; disch'd on Surg, cert June 19 '62 
Jeremiah Schreckengost, must into serv. Sept. 3, '63 ; age 25 ; must out with Co., June 25 '65 
Sharp W Scott, must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 19; disch'd on Surg. cert. Aug. 29, '62 ' 

V. U. qT' ^o'\ >nto serv Sept. 16, '61 ; age 20; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks. 

D?c. 6 S • -^"^ * ' ^° ^°- ^- ^^ ^'^- ^'*- ^"- ^°^P^; d'S'^h'd 

Reese Shay, must into serv. Mar. 10. '64; age 19; must, out with Co. June 25 '65 
John R Shoup must into serv. Sept 16, '61; age 21; wounded at battle of 'Kinston, N C 

Dec. 14. 62; must out at exp. of term Sept 16, '64 
John Shultz, must into serv. Sept. 2, "64 ; age 24 ; must, out with Co June 25 '65 



372 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

John R. Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 32; died of typhoid fever at Camp Lloyd, 
Washington, Mar. 26, '62. «^ . , . , • , t,- ^ t, l 

Philip Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 26; sick in hospital at Pittsburg, Pa., when 
Co. was must, out; Veteran, . , ^ t or ,r.- 

John C Speer, must, into serv. Mar. 4, '65 ; age 21 ; must, out with Co. June 25, 6o. 

William R. Stewart, must, into serv. Jan. 18, '62; age 18; disch'd by civil authority. Feb. 21, 
'62; Habeus Corpus writ. „ ^ , ... „ . 

I-^aac Stiffev, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 18; transferred to Battery E, 5th U. S. Ar- 
tillery, Jan. 20, 1863. . , .„ . . , r t^- xt ^ t^ 

Jacob Stiffey. must, into serv. Sept. 16. '61 ; age 16 ; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 

14 '62. 
Jacob Stockdill, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 17; disch'd by order of Col. T. F. Lehmann, 

lacking proper military requirements. , , , , . , , e 

James Sutch. must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 17 ; wounded and taken prisoner at battle of 

Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; exchanged; disch'd on Surg. cert. Oct. 1, '62. 
Matthew L. Teaff, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 23; disch'd at exp. of term Sept. 16, '64. 



Samuel Thompson, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61; age 21 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, 
Dec 14.' 62 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Jan. 18, '65 ; Veteran. 

, T^ rr^ ' • -. !^^- C t 1« '«! . ^^^ Q« ■ Aic^U'A on C:„rrr r-ar-i- Mar 9fi 'RR 




John Yount, must, into serv. Sept. 16, '61 ; age 18; died of typhoid fever, near Savage Station, 
May 29, '62. 

COMPANY D. 

Joseph K. Hamilton, Capt. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 44 ; resigned July 14, '62. 
Madison M. Meredith, Capt.; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; pro. from 1st Lieut. Apr. 10, '62; 

resigned July 13, '62. 
Fletcher Smullin, Capt.; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; pro. to 1st Lieut. Apr. 10, '62; to 

Capt. July 15, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Mar. 26, '65 ; hon. 

disch'd Mar. 30, '65, by reason of reduced command. 
Alfred L. Fluke, 1st Lieut. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; pro. to 2d Lieut. Apr. 10, '62 ; to 

1st Lieut. May 1, '63; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; escaped from prison and 

returned to Co. ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
George W. Stoke, 2d Lieut. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; acted as Capt. from July 15, '62, 

till Nov. 5, '62; pro. to 2d Lieut. Oct. 31, '63, and transf. to Co. B. 
John H. Brown, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 28; pro. to 1st Sergt. Jan. 

2, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James W. O'Donnell, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; died June 3, '62, of wounds 

received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Thomas H. Gray, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 17, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 

5,971. 
Samuel S. Hamilton, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; died of typhoid fever at Mt. Pleas- 
ant Hospital, Washington, D. C, June 1, '62; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
John A. Humphreys, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, 

N. C, Dec. 14, '62; pro. to Sergt. Jan. 2, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John S. Moorhead, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Apr. 28, '65, as per telegram from War Dept. ; Veteran. 
Levi Nolf, Sergt.; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled; died at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 18, '65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md., 

grave 271. 
Anthony Spangler, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; killed at battle of Kinston, Dec. 14, 

'62, while bearing the colors. 
Daniel A. Stoke, Sergt.; must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled ; pro. from Corp. to Sergt. May 1. '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
George T. Carrier, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 18 ; killed at battle of Plymouth, 

" N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; Veteran. 
Robert C. Fritz, Corp. ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 18 ; pro. to Corp. Jan. 2, '64 ; capt'd 

at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 14, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; 

Veteran. 
Henry Gumbert, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 31 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., June 26, '64 ; buried in Andersonville, Nat. Cem., 

grave 2,531 ; Veteran. 
John McClain, Corp. ; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Feb. 26, '65; disch'd by G. O. June 3, '65; Veteran. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 373 

Adam Nolf, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 30; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Apr. 28, '65 ; disch'd by G. O. June 12, '65, to date May 18, '65 ; Veteran. 
John P. Orr, Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 25, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 28, '65; pro. Corp. May 1, '65; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Josiiua C. Bowser, Music. ; must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Mar. 8, '65; disch'd by G. O. War Dept. June 2, '65. 
John J. Stoke, Music; must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; no further record; Veteran. 

PRIVATES. 

Benjamin Ailer, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at .A.ndersonviIle, Ga., Aug. 11, '64; buried in Andersonville, Nat. Cem., grave 5,286. 
Conrad Altman, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61, for 3 yrs. ; age 48 ; no further record. 
Hamilton Altman, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec. 13, '64 ; disch'd Mar. 15, '65, to date Dec. 19, '64. 
Jacob Andrews, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 20; disch'd on Surg cert., '62. 
Jacob J. Anthony, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec 6, '64; disch'd by G. O. May 9, '65, to date Dec 13. '64. 
Chambers Armstrong, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died at Regimental Hospital, Camp Orr, 

Kittanning, Pa., Feb. 11. '62. 
Samuel Bailey, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Feb. 27, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Joseph Baughman, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; disch'd on Surg. cert. Apr., '62. 
Joshua Baughman, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; transf. to Vet. Res. Corps, '63. 
James A. Beeham, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 16, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 6,127. 
William N. Blake, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died in prison, as reported by comrades, but date or place not given ; Veteran. 
Aaron J. Bowser, must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Charleston, S. C, Oct. 10, '64 ; buried at Columbia, S. C, according to record there, 

Oct. 4, '64. 
Daniel Bowser, must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; pa- 
roled Dec 20, '64 : hon. disch'd by G O. War Dept., Aug. 16, '65. 
James Brooks, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died of Rubiola, at Yorktown, Va., Apr. 13, '62 ; 

buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
James F. Brown, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Charleston, S. C, Oct. 10, '64. 
William Scott Brown, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; died at Yorktown, Va., May 28, '62; 

buried in Nat. Cem., Sec. D., grave 386. 
Emanuel Bucher, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks May 31, '62, 

and captured; died of wounds at Richmond, June 6, '62. 
Robert Cathcart, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 29, '64 ; buried in Andersonville, Nat. Cem., grave 

7,176. 
Samuel Clark, must into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died in prison, as reported by comrades, but date and place not given ; Veteran. 
George Craig, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Feb., '62. 
Samuel H. Craig, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Aug., '62. 
William H. H. Craig, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 1, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 7,456. 
William R. Craig, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg, cert Aug., '62. 
Benj. F. Coursin, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. June, '62. 
W. A. Crookshank, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch'd May 19, '65, to date Mar. 1, '65. 
Aaron T. Crow, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Jan., '62. 
James H. Crow, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died Aug. 3, '62, at Harrison's Landing, Va. 
Robert M. Crow, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg, cert Aug., '62. 
Samuel Crow, must into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 28 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec. 14, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
William Dailey, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; transf. to 8th N. Y. Ind. Battery, Jan. 1, '64. 
George W. Davidson, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; hon. disch'd on Surg. cert. Aug. 29, '62. 
William Duncan, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61. Sent to U. S. A. Gen. Hospital, Phila., Pa., 

July 18, '62; reported as deserter. 
Andrew Earlv, must, into serv. Sept 25, '61; age 20; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, 
Dec 14, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; died Apr. 14, '65; 
Veteran. 
Job Elder, must into serv. Sept 25, '61; age 24; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
reported by comrades as died in prison, place and date not given ; Veteran. 



374 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT. 

George W. Eyman, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. June, '62. 

Robert Fish, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., '63. 

Nelson Foreman, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62 ; disch'd May 21, '63. 

Abraham Galentine, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled; disch'd Apr. 15, '65; Veteran. 
William Galentine Jr., must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 3, '62. 
William Galentine Sn, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Aug., '62. 
George W. Given, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '62; disch'd on Surg. cert. Mar. 10, '63. 
Albert E. Goodard, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 17 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Nov. 30, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
John Gould, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 27. '65; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Charles C. Gray, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 24; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64; on furlough when Co. was must, out; Veteran. 
Lewis Griffin, must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; reported 

bv comrades as died in prison, date and place not given. 
Peter Haller, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 34; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., July 22, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 3,795 ; 

Veteran. 
John E. Hamilton, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; hon. disch'd on Surg, cert., '62. 
Samuel E. Hamilton, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, 'G4; reported by comrades as died in prison, date and place not given. 
Samuel W. Hamilton, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Feb. 28, '65 ; disch'd Apr. 20, '65, to date Mar. 6, '65. 
Robert Hayes, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died June 27, '62 at White Oak Swamp, Va., of 

typhoid fever. 
Jeremiah B. Henry, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 1, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 7,537. 
Henry Levi, must, into serv. Mar. 25, '62; capt'd at Plyrnouth, N. C, .A.pr. 20, '64; reported 

by comrades as died in prison, place and date not given. 
Robert Hooks, must, into serv. Feb. 18, '64 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Thomas J. Hooks, must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62 ; capt'd at Plyrnouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., June 24, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 2,387. 
John H. Huffman, must, into serv. Mar. 15, '65; age 20; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Patrick Kerr, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Feb. 27, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Martin Kness, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. .A.pr., '62. 
William H. Kness, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled ; died at Annapolis, Md., Dec. 1, '64, of scorbutic debility ; Veteran. 
William B. PCrosen, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; pro. to 2d Lieut. Co. K, Dec. 15, '61. 
George W. Leisure, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 37 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Apr. 29, '65; disch'd June 16, '65, to date May 21, '65; Veteran. 
Henry McAnnich, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg. cert. Apr., '62. 
John McLafferty, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd Aug. 1, '62. 
George Mack, must, into serv. Mar. 14, '65 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
John Martin, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 44 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 22, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 

6,480; Veteran. 
Joseph S. Merikel, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., '62. 
Barnhart Metzler, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died of fever at Plymouth, N. C, Oct. 12, 

'63; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, grave 1,166. 
Lorenzo F. Mills, must, into serv. Aug. 30, '62 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 16, '64 ; must. 

out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Isaac S. Moorhead, must, into serv. Nov. 18, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 1, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 7,602. 
David Myers, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died on board transport Northern Light, Dec. 13, '64, after being paroled; Veteran. 
Jacob Myers, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died Feb. 26, '65, on board transport after being paroled; Veteran. 
Barney Nolf, must, into serv. Jan. 15, '64; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Apr. 28, '65 ; disch'd June 21, '65, to date May 18, '65. 
William Oliver, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 9, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 5,184. 
James T. Parsons, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., July 5, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem., grave 2,903. 
William O. Pontious, Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Charles- 
ton, S. C, Sept. 23, '64; Capt. Smullin reports date of enlistment as Jan., '64. 
James Porter, must, info serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 3, '62. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 875 

Daniel Procious, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

Dec. 20, '64 ; after paroled. 
Samuel Reese, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 1, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat Gem., grave 4,507. 
James Ritchey, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 23; transf. to Go. B, Jan. 1, '64; Veteran. 
Michale J. Rugh, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., July 8, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Gem., grave 3,024. 
James Sacket, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 44 ; disch'd on account of wounds received 

at battle of Kinston, N. G., Dec. 14, '62. 
George Scott, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 21 ; disch'd on Surg. cert, in '62. 
Adam Schreckengost ; must into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 25;_capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 
20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 17, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Gem., 
grave 5,429; Veteran. 
Levi Schreckengost, must, into serv. Sept. 26, '61 ; wounded in head at battle of Fair Oaks, 
Va., May 31, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 26, '65; hon. 
disch'd by G. O. June 2, '65 ; Veteran. 
Thomas Shall, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 31 ; transf. to Vet. Res. Gorps in '63. 
William Shall, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 24 ; died at Orrsville, Armstrong county, Pa., 

in '62 
Eli Simmers, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Wilmington, N. G., May 14, '65 ; buried in Nat. Gem., Wilmington, grave 987. 
James Simmers ; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 35 ; disch'd on account of wounds received 

at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62 ; date not given. 
Thompson Simpson, must, into serv. Nov. 13, 61 ; age 33 ; transf. to Vet. Res. Gorps in '63. 
George K. Slagle, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; transf. to Vet. Res. Gorps in '63. 
James Smeltzer, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., July 17, '64 ; buried in Andersonville Nat. Gem., grave 3,480. 
George Smith, must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; transf. to Go. K, date of transf. not given. 
Martin Smith, must, into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 45; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64; must, out with Go. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Samuel Smith, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 37 ; disch'd on Surg. cert, in 1862. 
Adolphus M. Smullin, must into serv. Sept. 25, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Raphael S. Smullin, must into serv. Mar. 31, '65; must, out with Go. June 25, '65. 
Gostin Z. Smullin, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 26 ; died Aug. 5, '62, at Harrison's Land- 
ing, Va. 
Henry Spong, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; 

comrades report died in prison, place and date not given. 
Leonard W. Stine, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died of typhoid fever May 2, '62 at Camp 

Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, Va. 
Jacob Stultz, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; died June 5, '62, at Douglas Hospital, of wounds 

received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va.. May 31, '62 ; buried in Mil. Asy. Gem., D. G. 
William Todd, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; transf. to Go. K, Dec. 15, '61. 
Conrad Trolerman, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 48; transf. to Vet Res. Gorps; date 

not given. 
Isaac S. Trolinger, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; age 21 ; transf. to Vet. Res. Corps, date not 

given. 
Martin Welch; must into serv. Sept. 25, '61; age 35; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 
May 31, '62 ; also at battle of Kinston, N. C., Dec. 14, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. G., 
Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Nov. 30, '64 ; must, out with Go. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
William Wheeler, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; killed at battle of Kinston, N. G., Dec. 14, '62. 
Wilbur F. Wilson, must into serv. Mar. 15, '65 ; age 20 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Andrew Wolf, must into serv. Aug. 25, '62; died Mar. 17, '63, at New Bern, N. C, of con- 
gestive fever; buried in Nat. Gem., New Bern, N. C., plot 7, grave 1212. 
Matthias Wolf, must into serv. Nov. 13, '61 ; disch'd on Surg, cert Apr., '62. 
Jeremiah Wyant, must into serv. Aug. 30, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 29, '64; pa- 
roled Dec. 10, '64 ; must out with Go. June 25, '65. 

COMPANY E. 

Samuel Martin, Capt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at White House, Va., June 8, '62. 
EH G. Cratty, Capt; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 21; pro. to Capt Oct. 28, '62; capt'd 

at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Mar. 7, '65 ; must, out with Go. June 25, '65. 
Christopher M. Otto, 1st Lieut. ; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 24 ; resigned Oct 28, '62. 
Robert R. Bryson, 1st Lieut. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 33 ; appointed 1st Sergt at 

organization of Co., pro. to 1st Lieut. Oct. 28, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Peter Weisenstine, 2d Lieut; must, into serv. Dec. T, '61; age 22; pro. to 2d. Lieut, from prir, 

Oct 28, '62; resigned Dec. 8, '63. 



376 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Charles H. McCIung, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 23 ; appointed Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co.; gro. 1st Sergt. Oct. 28, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
died at Florence, b. C, Oct. 16, '64; Veteran. 

William B. Sedwick, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 6, '61 ; age 22 ; appointed Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co. ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled May 15, '65 ; must, 
out with Co. June 26, '65 ; Veteran. 

Samuel Logan, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 20; killed at battle of Plymouth, N. 
C, Apr. 20, '64. 

Josiah L. AlcCandles, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 22; died in '62. 

John N. McCarrier, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 21; pro. Sergt. Jan. 2, '64; capt'd 
at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 14, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; 
Veteran. 

William H. Martin, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 42 ; disch'd on Surg. cert, in '63. 

Frederick A. Mondy, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Florence, S. C, Dec. 5, '64. 

Henry A. Wagner, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 
paroled Feb. 27, '65 ; hon. disch'd May 16, '65, to date Mar. 4, '65. 

Jefferson Burtner, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; wounded and capt'd at battle 
of Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Oct. 20, '64; hon disch'd Apr. 19, '65; Veteran. 

James M. Byers, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 20; wounded at battle of Kinston, 
N. C, Dec. 14, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Camp Parole, An- 
napolis, Md., shortly after being paroled; Veteran. 

Henry C. Croup, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
" 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

Samuel Roth, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died of typhoid fever. May 24, '62, at 
Washington, D. C. 

James H. Scott, Corp. : rau."?!. into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 
died at Florence, S. C. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Florence, S. C. 

Nathaniel N. Stevenson, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 24 ; wounded at battle of Fair 
Oaks. Va., May 31, '62; disch'd at Harrisburg, Pa., Sept. 22, '62. 

Robert J. Thompson, Corp., must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; hon. disch'd Apr. 14, '65, to date Dec. 17, '64. 

Lewis Wolford, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd Jan. 30, '65; to date Dec. 7, '64, 
exp. of term. 

Aaron B. Hughes, Music. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64 ; paroled Mar. 1, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

John Myers, Music. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 27 ; transf. from Co. A., Dec. 7, '61 ; 
capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 23, '64 ; Veteran. 

PRIVATES. 

John Albert, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died May 27, '62, of typhoid fever ; buried in Mil. 

Asy. Cem., D. C. 
James R. Allison, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd Jan. 17, '62, at Camp Orr, Kittanning, 

Pa. 
Nathaniel K. Allison, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; missing in action at Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62. 
Martin W. Banker; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

comrades report, died in prison, but give no date or place. 
Adam Banner, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 25; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 26, '65; must, out with Co. June 26, '65; Veteran. 
Edward Barkman, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville prison in 1864, as reported by comrades, date not given; 

Veteran. 
George Barr, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; pa- 
roled Dec. 14, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
William Beighly, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Oct. 27, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville. Ga., grave 11,569. 
John M. Black, must, into serv. Feb. 29, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Robert P. Black, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 1.0; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 27, '65 ; hon. disch'd by G. O. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James M. Bracken, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Henry J. Burns, must, into serv. Mar. 1, '64; age 20; must, out with Co. June 26, '65. 
John Burns, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; aare 20; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C. Apr. 20, '64; 

died at .Andersonville, Ga., Oct. 3, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 

10,260; Veteran. 
Thomas S. Byers, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled, and died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md. 
John B. Campbell, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 377 

'64; paroled; died Dec. 27, '64, of chron. diarrhea, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in U. S. 
Nat. Cem., Annapolis, grave 1,3C5. 
Dickson Christy, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '(il ; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth. N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled Dec. 14. '64; died at Annapolis, Md., Jan 6, '65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, 
grave 316 ; Veteran. 
Cyrus H. Croup, must, into serv. Feb. 23, '64 ; age 19 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
John Cnpp, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; absent sick when Co. was capt'd; must out Jan. 16, 

'65, by reason of exp. of term. 
William W. Daniel, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; no further record than is given in Bates 

History; (probably an error, intended for W. W. Davis.) . 
Moore M. Davis; must, into serv. Dec. 17, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 
at Andersonville, Ga., July 24, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave 3,873 ; 
Veteran. 
Samuel Davis; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 20; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, .Apr. 20, '64; 

reported by comrades as died at Andersonville, but date not given ; Veteran. 
William W. Davis; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Oct. 28, '64; Veteran. 
William S. Dickson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; wounded and capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 21, '64. 
Gabriel Duffy; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, 
Dec. 14, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled, Dec. 22, '64; must, out 
with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Ezekiel Ekis ; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled at 

Vicksburg, Miss., Apr. 21, '65 ; disch. June 5, to date May 16, '65. 
Emanuel Emminger; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Feb. 26, '65 ; hon. disch'd by G. O., June 9, '65 ; Veteran. 
Thomas Eshenbaugh ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 18 : capt'd at Plvmouth. N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; paroled Dec 14, '64; disch. by G. 0. Aug. 3, '65, at Hicks U. S. Gen. Hos- 
pital, Baltimore, Md., to date June 25, '65, by reason of organization being M. O. 
service ; Veteran. 
Wallace Frick ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died July 13, '62 ; buried in Cvp. Hill Cem., 

L. I., N. Y. 
Petf'r J. Gallagher ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 45 ; disch'd Feb. 7, '63, at New Bern, 

N. C 
Joseph Goldlinger ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

at Florence, S. C, Oct. 16, '64. 
John Gordon ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; trans, to 8th N. Y. Ind. Battery, Apr. 6, '62. 
Walter Gould; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died at Baltimore, Md., June 4, '62, of pneu- 
monia. 
Adam Grossman; must, into serv. Feb. 29, '64; age 20; not on muster out roll; no further 

record. 
Benjamin C. Grossman; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps in 1862. 
Weston Hall; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 30; capt'd at_ Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled ; died at Annapolis, Md., Dec. 20, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis ; grave 
511 ; Veteran. 
George W. Henshaw ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died Aug. 4, '62; buried in Cypress Hill 

Cemetery, L. I. 
Thomas Hess ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd Oct. 29, '62, on Surg. cert. 
Jonathan Hockenbury; must, into serv. Mar. 3, '64; age 19; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Richard J. Houston; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd July 28, '62. 
John Hussleton ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died of measles Apr. 7, '62; buried in Mil- 

Asy. Cem., D. C. 
John K. Jamison; must, into serv. Feb. 29, '64; died Apr. 6, '64; buried in Allegheny Ceme- 
tery, Pittsburg, Penna. 
Andrew Johnston; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; disch'd Mar. 15, '65, to date Dec. 16, '64, owing to exp. of term. 
Hamilton C. Kennedy ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; was placed in ambulance in a dying con- 
dition June 27, '62; and was never afterwards seen by his comrades; no further 
record. 
John Kennedy; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 42; capt'd at Plvmouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 27, '65; disch'd by G. O. June 12, '65; Veteran. 
Charles Leply; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at 

Andersonville, Ga.. Sept. 11, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem.; grave, 8.405. 
Samuel F. McBride; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 19; trans, as Hosp. Stew, to Regular 

Army, Dec. 4, '62. 
Samuel B. McCandless; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 20; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 28, '64; Veteran. 



378 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Hugh McElroy; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 40; missing June 29, '62, during Seven 

Days' Battle. 
Joseph Mangel ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at PIsrmouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '65 ; paroled 

Feb., '65 ; hon. disch. May 26, '65. 
Isaac A. Martin ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died Nov. 23, '62, of fever, at Suffolk, Va. 
James Martin ; must, into erv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Pljrmouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 8, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave 5,068. 
Thomas Mayer; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd April 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C ; 
died at Andersonville, Ga., June 9, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave, 
1,747; Veteran. 
William S. Mechling; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 24; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 

20, '64; paroled; disch'd at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 15, '65, exp. of term. 
William Miller; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd at Camp Orr, Kittanning, Pa., Jan. 17, 

'61. 
Andrew Morrison ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; disch'd on Surg, cert., Dec. 15, '63, 

at New Bern, N. C. 
Perry O. Morrow; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Charleston, S. C, Dec, '64; Veteran. 

Solomon Moser; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 80, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave, 7,305. 

George W. Mushrush ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 22; died of t}T)hoid-pneumonia at 

Roanoke Island, N. C, Dec. 9, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C. plot 7, 

grave 1160. 

Milton Myers; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 33; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., July 13, '64 ; grave 3,250 ; Veteran. 
Patrick Norris ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Joshua H. Perkins ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 
'64; paroled; died of chron. diarrhea at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 8, '65; buried in Nat. 
Cem., Annapolis ; grave 59 ; Veteran. 
Bredin Porter; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch. date not given. 
Charles Prosser; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd, date not given. 
Harrison Pugh ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Apr., '65 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James E. Ralston; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled Mar., '65 ; died Mar. 21, '65, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annap- 
olis, Md. ; grave, 122. 
James B. Rutter ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; age 18 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; 

paroled Dec. 24, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James Sanderson ; must, into serv., Dec. 7, '61 ; died of measles Apr. 10, '62, at Washington, 

D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
John Shannon; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died of typhoid fever June 17, '62, at White- 
Oak Swamp, Va. 
John B. Shirley; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; discharged; date not given. 
Jacob Sipe ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; discharged ; date not given. 
John E. Stevenson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; absent sick at muster out. 
William E. Stevenson; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 18; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, 

N. C. ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
David Taylor ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; discharged, date not given. 
Jonathan Taylor ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; absent on detached service from July, '62. 
Samuel Thompson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd June 4, '62. 
George Troutman ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Feb. 23, '65; disch'd by G. O., June 13, '65. 
John Varley; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at 

Charleston, S. C, Feb. 26, '65 ; burial record Sept. 26, '64. 
Thomas Wallace ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at Harrison's Landing, Va., Aug. 3, '62 ; 

buried in Poplar Grove Cem., Petersburg, Va. 
Seth Wallace ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died Oct. 18, '62, at Chesapeake Hospital, Va. 
John M. Webb ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled 

Feb. 25, 65; disch'd Apr. 13, 65, to date Mar. 2, '65. 
Henry Weber ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; died of measles Apr. 1, '62, at Washington, D. C. ; 

buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
Valentine Whitener ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd May 5, '62, by order of Gen. 

Wadsworth. 
Richard Wick; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at 

Andersonville, Ga. ; .A.ug. 25, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave 6,808. 
John Wilson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 
Florence, S. C, Oct. 10, '64. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 379 

Henry A. Wise; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; disch'd 

by G. O. May 15, '65. , . . ^ j 

Oliver J. Wise; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61; detached from Co.; date not given. 
Andrew Ziegler; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 34; dischd; date not given. 

COMPANY F. 

Mathew B. McDowell, CapL; must, into serv. as Capt., Dec 7, '61; resigned June 21 '62. 
Josiah Zink, Capt.; must into serv. as 1st Lieut., Dec. 7. '61; pro. to Capt. June 22. 62, re- 

John Do^aghy.^Capt.'; must, into serv as 2d Lieut Dec 7 '61 ; pro. to 1st. Lieut. June 22, 
'62- to Capt, May 1, '63; wounded and capt'd at battle of Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64- successfully escaped Nov. 20, '64; must, out and honorably disch'd by order of 
W.' D., Dec 9, '64. 




Henry H Neely, 2d Lieut. ; must, into serv. as 1st Sergt., Dec 7, '61 ; pro. to 2d Lieut. June 

22, '62 ; resigned Mar. 12. '63. 
Eli Armagost, 1st Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61, as Sergt.; age 37; pro. to 1st Sergt 

June 22, '62; com. 2d Lieut, but not must.; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20. '64; 

died at Anderson\nlle, Ga., Aug. 14, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave, 

2,956 ; Veteran. , , -r^, -vt /- 

Allen B. Cross, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61, as Sergt. ; capt d at PljTnouth. N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled Nov. 27, '64; pro. to 1st Sergt. May 1, '65; must out with Co., 

June 25, '65; Veteran. 
William R. Graham, 1st Sergt.; must into serv. Dec 7, '61, as Sergt.; age 25; pro. to 1st 

Sergt.. July 4, '63 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20. '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., 

Aug. 14, '64; buried in Nat Cem., Andersonville; grave, 5,737; Veteran. 
David Rimer. 1st Sergt.; must into serv. as Sergt. Dec 7, '61; pro. to 1st Sergt., June 22. '62; 

disch'd ; date not given. 
Jacob S. Delp, Sergt. ; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
Michael Hawk, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; age 29 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; died Mar. 1, '65; Veteran. 
William McElhany, Sergt.; must into serv. Dec 7, '61; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, 

Dec 14, '62. 
Henry G. Reese, Sergt. ; must into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; pro. from Corp. June 21, '62 ; disch'd ; 

date not given. 
John H. White, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, 

N. C. ; escaped Apr. 22, '65 ; disch'd June 7, '65, to date May 24, '65 ; Veteran. 
William Bostaph. Corp.; must into serv. Dec 7. '61; age 17; wounded at battle of Fair 

Oaks, Va., May 31, '62 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Colin Boyd. Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Jacob Brock, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
Robert G. Dill, Corp. ; must into serv., Aug. 15. '61 ; in Co. E, 102d Penna. Reg't ; age 21 ; 

wounded at battle of Malvern Hill ; arbitrarily transferred himself to Co. F, 103d, 

Mar. 20, '63, with full concurrence of the officers of the latter Reg't; disch'd Apr. 4, 

'64, for promotion to Capt in 43d U. S. Col'd Troops, from which was must, out with 

Co., Oct. 20. '65. 
Benjamin Edwards, Corp. ; must into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth. N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled; died at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 9, '65; Veteran. 
George E. Frill, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died July 1, '62, at Yorktown, Va. ; buried 

in Section 6; grave 150. 
Robert W. McGarrah, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 26 ; capt'd at Plymouth. N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., Mar. 21, '65 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Anderson- 
ville ; grave, 12,806 ; Veteran. 
Benjamin Mortimer, Corp. ; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 38 ; killed at battle of Plymouth, 

N. C, Apr. 20, '64; Veteran. 
John Smuthers, Corp.; must into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 25; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
Charles Stewart, Corp.; must, into serv., Dec. 7, '61; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64 ; paroled, Dec, '64 ; died at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 19, '65 ; buried in Nat Cem., 
Annapolis, grave, 86; Veteran. 
Samuel H. Stewart, Corp. ; must, into serv., Dec. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Apr., '65 ; on furlough when Co. was must, out ; Veteran. 
Weldon S. Zilef ro, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; age 17 ; not on must, out roll. 



380 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

David Anderson. Music; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 24; trans, from Co. A, Dec. 7, '61. 

capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., June 27, '64; buried 

in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, grave, 2,547 ; Veteran. 
William D. Keefer, Musi. ; must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Feb. 26, '65 ; disch'd June 12, '65, to date May 15, '65 ; Veteran. 
Samuel A. Mohney, Musi. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd June 21, '62. 

PRIVATES. 

William Akins ; must, into serv. Oct. 5, '63 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; no fur- 
ther record. 
Samuel Anderson; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Samuel W. Anderson ; must, into serv. Dec. "7, '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, '62; capt'd at Plvmouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Apr. 21, '65: disch'd May 

31, '65, to date May 18, '65. 
David M. Barr ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Barney Beabout ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Jacob Bish; must, into serv. Dec. 7, 61; age 22; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., July 5, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville; grave 2,193; 

Veteran. 
George Boarts ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at Baltimore, Md., June 12, '62, of typhoid 

fever. 
John Boarts ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died of typhoid fever. May 12, '62, board steamer 

on Potomac River. 
William Boarts ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Feb. 27, '65 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Hardon W. Boyle; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; detached service at Chesapeake Hospital, 

Fortress Monroe, from Apr. 23, '62, until June 24, '62 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Rankin J. Boyle; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks. Va., May 31, 

'62; died Aug. 17, '62, at Georgetown, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
Wilder M. Boyle; must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; wounded and capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 14, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
John F. Bruner; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; trans f. to Co. G, Jan. 1, '62. 
James Burns; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 37; capt'd Apr. 20, '64; died at Anderson- 
ville, Ga., July 16, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave, 3,294; Veteran. 
James Carson; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61, for 3 yrs. ; disch'd, date not given. 
James W. Copic ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at Harrison's Landing, Va., Aug. 8, '62. 
Evans Dahle ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died of measles. May 12, '62, at Newport News, Va. 
Sylvester Dahle ; must, into serv. Dec. 6, '61 ; age 21 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec, '64; died of chron. diarrhea, Dec. 20, 64, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried 

in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 689; Veteran. 
Jesse Dearmont ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd, date not given. 
Harmon Dunkle; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 

'62; died of wounds received at battle of Plymouth. Anr. 20, '64. 
Absalom Emehizer; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; trans, to Co. G, Jan. 1, '62. 
Samuel Emehizer; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; transf. to Co. G, Jan. 1, '62. 
John H. Friel; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 40; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 11, '64; disch'd May 7, '65, to date June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Joseph Fritz ; must, into serv., Dec 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
John M. Fulton, must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch. date not given. 
William A. Fulton ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; disch'd by G. O., Aug. 15, '65, to date June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Benjamin Graham; must, into serv. Mar. 31, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, 65. 
Artemas G. Grant ; must, into serv., Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
David Hartman: must, into serv. Dec 7, '61; age 21; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Nov., '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Adam Herr; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 22; hon. disch. Apr. 28, '63, on Surg. cert. 
Joseph Hough ; must, into serv. Dec 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Henry K. Hugus ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd June 23, '62. 
Robert Hugus; must, into serv. Dec. 7. '61; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Robert Hunter; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
David Johnston ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Daniel Jones; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; cap't at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

no further record ; Veteran. 
Henry Karns ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Alexander Keith ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 20 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec 11, '64; hon. disch'd by G. O., June 19, '65; Veteran. 
George W. Keith ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died July 31, '62, at his home in Clarion Co., 

Penna. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 381 

Anthony Kerns ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled; died at Annapolis, Md., Mar. 12, '65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; 

grave 433; Veteran. 
Michael Kissinger ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62; disch'd, to date June 30, '62, of wds. received at Fair Oaks. 
John Lowers ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; no fur- 
ther record; Veteran. 
Henry Kness ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; on detached service as teamster ; hon. disch'd on 

exp. of term, Dec 7, '64. 
James McCoy ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd. Aug. 1, '62. 
Joseph McGregor ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; hon. disch'd June 17, '62. 
Michael McManny ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62 ; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
David McPherson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 40 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 17, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville; 

grave, 6,014 ;' Veteran. 
Adam H. Marsh ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; killed by falling from train between Pittsburgh 

and Harrisburg Feb. 24, '62. 
John Mayhood ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 26 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Charleston, S. C, Dec. 14, '64 ; Veteran. 
James P. Miller; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled; died Nov. 30, '64, of chronic diarrhea at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in Nat. 

Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 319 ; Veteran. 
Mohney, Franklin ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died 

in prison, date not given ; buried in Nat. Cem., Milledgeville, Ga., section A, grave 107. 
Mohney, George B. ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died as leaving Steamer Kennebec, on 

James River, Aug. 13, '62. 
Henderson Mohney; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 10, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 

5,266. 
Thomas Mortimer; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died Sept. 21, '63, at Roanoke Island, N. C. ; 

buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C. ; plot 7, grave 1,181. 
John Myers ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died May 2, '62, at Washington, D. C, of typhoid 

fever; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
John Oler ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 43 ; disch'd, date not given. 
George Pence; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 17, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 

5,910; Veteran. 
Robert Piatt ; must, into serv., Dec. 7, '61 ; died Dec. 15, '62, at Point Lookout Hospital, Md. 
Robert C. Piatt ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at Yorktown, Va., May 8, '62. 
James Ramsey; must, into serv. Aug. 28, '62; capt'd at PljTnouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., June 9, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, Ga. ; grave 1,833. 
James Randolph ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 : died at Washington, D. C, date not given- 
David Rankin ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd Aug. 22, '62. 
Thomas Reed ; must. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd, date not given. 

Thomas B. Reed ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died June 1, '62, of typhoid fever, at Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cemetery, D. C. 
William L. Reed ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; wounded and capt'd at Pl3Tnouth, N. C Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec. 11, '64; disch'd Mar. 24, '65, to date Dec. 17, '64. 
Jacob Ruff; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at An- 
dersonville, Ga., Aug. 29, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 7.202. 
Andrew J. Saliards ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd from U. S. A. Gen. Hos., Pitts- 
burgh, Dec. 7, '64, and returned to Commandant of Post, Pittsburgh, to be must, out; 

hon. disch'd Dec. 8, '64. 
Joseph Sampson; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died at Roanoke Island, N. C, Sept. 6, '63; 

buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,186. 
William W. Sanford; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died Jan. 12, '63, of wounds received at 

battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 
James W. Saxton ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died July 26, '62, at Long Island Hosoital. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Lemuel H. Slagle; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; wounded in action on expedition 

from Plymouth, N. C, Jan. 27, '64 ; transf. to Co. A, 18th Regt. Vet. Res. Corps. ; hon. 

disch'd on Surg, cert.. Mar. 27, '65; Veteran. 
Huston J. Sloan; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; died at White House, Va., July 10, '62. 
Theodore G. Sloan; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 17; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va., Mav 31, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; escaped Mar. 24, '65; disch'd 

by G. O. June 7, '65, date May 24, '65 ; Veteran. 
William B. Smith ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died at Fortress Monroe, Va., Aug. 27, '62. 
George Snyder ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; disch'd Oct. 20, '62. 



882 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

John Springer ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 
Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 28, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave, 7,141. 

Patrick Sweeney; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; disch'd, date not given. 

Robert Taylor; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 19; died Apr. 26, '62, at Washington, D, C. 

Milton Thompson; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 17; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, 
N. C.; paroled Apr. 21, '65; disch'd by G. O. June 2, '65; to date from May 18, '65; 
Veteran. 

Reese Thompson ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 50 ; capt'd Apr. 20, '64 ; at Plymouth, N. 
C. ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 7, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave 
3,003; Veteran. 

Joshua Vaughn ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; detached as division teamster ; disch'd, date 
not given. 

William B. Watterson; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 
'64; paroled Apr. 21, '65; disch'd by G. 0. June 2, '65, to date from May 18, '65; Vet- 
eran. 

Michael Wenner; must, into serv. Aug. 25, '62; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C., Dec. 14, '62. 

John Yockey; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; age 21; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64; 
must, at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 24, '64; died at Annapolis, Md., Jan. 9, 
'65, of typhoid fever; buried in U. S. Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 1,498; Vet- 
eran. 

Loy B. Young; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61; transf. to Co. G, Jan. 1, '62. 

Sebastian Zirl ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 
Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 25, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville, Ga. ; grave 6,818. 

COMPANY G. 

John Stuchell, Capt. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; resigned Apr. 15, '63. 
James J. Morrow, Capt.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; pro. to 1st Lieut, Jan. 25, '63; to 
Capt July 1, '63; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; must, out with 
Co., June 25, '65. 
William H. Irwin, 1st Lieut. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; pro. to Adjt. Nov. 29, '62. 
Zachariah IVL Cline, 1st Lieut.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; appointed 1st. Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co.; pro. to 2d Lieut., Jan. 25, '63; to 1st Lieut., July 1, '63; killed at 

battle of Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 18, '64. 
William C. Bell, 1st Sergt.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 22; com. 2d Lieut. Apr. 15, '63; 

not must.; pro. to 1st Sergt. Jan. 1, '64; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; 

paroled Mar. 1, '65 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
George Baker, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Apr. 20, '65; pro. from Corp. to Sergt., May 1, '65; must, out with Co. June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
John Black, Sergt.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 24; pro. to Sergt. Jan. 2, '64; capt'd 

at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 1, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, 

'65 ; Veteran. 
John Clark, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 : age 22 ; capt'd at Plymouth. N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Feb. 1, '65; Veteran. 
Thomas Moore, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 32 ; trans, from Co. A, Jan. 3, '62 ; 

trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not given. 
Joseph W. Pierce, Sergt.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 35; disch'd in 1862. 
Andrew Shankle, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 18 ; pro. Sergt., Jan. 2, '64 ; capt'd 

at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 11, '64; must out with Co., June 25, 

'65; final discharge July 13, '65; Veteran. 
William J. Stuchell, Sergt. ; must into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 33 ; disch'd at New Bern, N. C, 

in 1863. 
Robert Whitacre, Sergt.; must into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 19; appointed Sergt. Jan. 2, '64; 

capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, .^pr. 20, '64; paroled Mar. 1, '65; must out with Co., June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
Samuel Barr, Corp; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 16; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 7, '64; buried in Nat Cem., Andersonville; 

grave, 3,019; Veteran. 
Joseph Fouss, Corp. ; must into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 41 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not 

given. 
Smith Kennedy; Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 27; wounded at battle of Fair 

Oaks, Va., May 31, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not given. 
William McGeary, Corp. ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 40 ; pro. to Corp. Jan. 2, '64 ; 

capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 7, '64; must, out with Co., June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
William Myers, Corp.; must into serv. Jan. 10, '62; comrades report trans, to Vet. Res- 

Corps, date not given. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 383 

Samuel Spencer, Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died Dec. 27, '63, of chronic diarrhea 
at Beaufort, N. C. ; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, _N. C, plot 7, grave 1,113. 

Christopher Stuchell, Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died Nov. 10, '62, of typhoid fever 
at Fortress Monroe, Va. 

Jacob Weaver, Corp.; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 31; trans, from Co. A. Jan. 3, '62; 
wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31. '62 ; died, date not given. 

Henry K. Barrette, Music; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died July, '62, at Harrison's Land- 
ing, Va. 

Saul A. Hagerty, Music; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; hon. disch'd by G. O. June 26, '65 ; Veteran. 

Loy B. Young, Music ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; age 17 ; trans, to Co. G from Co. F, Jan. 
■ 1, '62 ; capt'd at Pljnmouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 7, '64 ; must, out with Co. 
June 25. '65; Veteran. 

PRIVATES. 

John Adams ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died en route from Andersonville to Federal lines for parole in Feb., '65 ; Veteran. 
George W. Anthony; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; supposed to have died in Confederate prison ; Veteran. 
Jacob Anthony ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 31 ; disch'd, date not given. 
Samuel Bagley; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; hon. disch'd, date not given. 
Peter Barr; must into serv. Oct. 22, '62; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 7, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 8,256. 
Henry H. Bell; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; pro. to Sergt. Maj., Jan. 10, '62. 
David Best; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; died of bronchitis Mar. 8, '64, at Plymouth, 

N. C. ; Veteran. 
William Oliver Black ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 25 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 18, '64; buried in Nat. Cem. at Anderson- 
ville ; grave 3,600 ; Veteran. 
George W. Brink; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 24; disch'd, date not given. 
Frank Brothers ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 44 dihch'd at New Bern, N. C, in 1863. 
George W. Bruner; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 16; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec 7, '64; must out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
John F. Bruner; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; disch'd, date not given. 
William Carson; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; capt'd Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 7, 

'64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
George W. Dies ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 18 ; on detached serv. from Apr. 13, '64, 

until after Co. was capt'd; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Hiram Donaldson ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; disch., date not given. 
James Duncan ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps July 1, '64 ; disch. 

Feb. 11, '65. 
Peter S. Duncle; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died of chronic diarrhea, Dec. 21, '63, at 

Beaufort, N. C. ; buried in Nat. Cem. New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1.155. 
James Dunlap; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 20; capt'd Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; 

paroled Feb. 25, '65; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Absalom Emehizer; must, into serv. Dec 1, '61; age 50; trans, from Co. F., Jan. 1, '62; 

disch., date not given. 
Samuel Emehizer ; must, into serv. Dec. 7, '61 ; died Aug. 16, '62, at Philadelphia, Pa. 
James Evrit ; must, into serv. Oct. 22, '62 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 : died at 

Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 21, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem. Andersonville ; grave 6,424. 
George M. Fee ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 16, '64; buried in Nat. Cem. Andersonville: jrrave 

5,873; Veteran. 
James Frederick; must, into serv. Dec. 1, '61; disch. on writ of habeus corpus, Jan. 3, '62. 
Daniel Free ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 18 ; died in serv., date not given. 
Balser Graft; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died of wounds received at battle of Fair Oaks 

Va., May 31, '62, at Fortress Monroe, Va.. June 15, '62. 
George M. Gourley; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 16; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 7, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Daniel Greek ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; on detached service from May 25. '62. with 1st 

N. Y. Art 
Andrew Gregg; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; disch. Nov. 10, '62. 
George W. Grubbs ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec 7, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Silas Hagerty; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 40; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '6ii 

paroled ; reported as died Mar. 1, '65 ; Veteran. 
Washington Hazlett ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 22 ; hon. disch., date not given. 
James Hopkins; must into serv. Jan. 10, 62; wounded and taken prisoner at battle of Fair 

Oaks, Va., May 31, '62 ; exchanged and disch. at Fortress Monroe, Va., Sept. 28, '62. 



384 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Thomas Jewett; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; detached as teamster from May 1, '62; must. 

out at exp. of term. 
John R. Kron; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 18; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 14, '64 ; pro. to Com. Sergt. May 18, '65 ; Veteran. 
Isaac L. Kuhn; must, into serv. Jan. 10, 62; died in hospital at Beaufort, N. C, Mar. 21, '64 

of lung disease; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,225. 
Thomas J. Laughlin ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 40 ; trans, from Co. A, Dec. 7, '61 ; pro. 

to Com. Sergt., Jan. 10. '62 ; died enroute from Florence, S. C. 
David W. Lawrence ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; disch. at New Bern, N. C, 1863. 
John Leslie; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died Mar. 3, '65, enroute from Con. prison, after entering Federal lines ; Veteran. 
William Love; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; disch. on account of herma, June 14, '62. 
William M. Love ; must, into serv. Feb. 24, '64 ; age 34 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Patrick McBride; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; died July 24, '63; buried in Cypress Hill Cem., 

Long Island, N. Y. 
William C. McCluskey ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 23 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; died at Charleston. S. C, enroute to Florence, Oct. '64; Veteran. 
Andrew McCullough ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 23 ; disch., date not given. 
William McCullough; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 19; disch. date not given. 
John Maynard; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 16; capt'd while on reconnoissance at 

Colerain, N. C., Jan. 22, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Ander- 

sonville, grave 183; Veteran. 
Alexander Maul ; must, into serv. Jan. 10., '62 ; reported by comrades as "killed at Willams- 

burg; records say disch., no date given. 
John Miller ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 31 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C. Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Apr. 1, '65; disch. by G. O. July 14, '65; Veteran. 
Allison Mitchell ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; wounded at battle of Charles City Cross 

Roads ; June 30, '62 ; disch., date not given. 
Robert Montgomery ; must, into serv. Jan. 10. "^62 ; age 16 ; disch. date not given. 
Caleb E. Moore; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 31; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 18, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem. Andersonville, grave 

6,038; Veteran. 
Martin Nef? ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; disch., date not given. 
Samuel Oiler ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 35 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga. Aug. 22, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 

6,658; Veteran. 
Robert A. A. Patterson ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 19 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 4, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; veteran. 
George C. Pierce ; Jan. 10, '62 ; age 21 ; disch. 1862. 
James H. Rager ; Jan. 10, '62 ; age 18 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 

7, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James Randolph ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; died Apr. 3, '62, of typhoid fever, at Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem. D. C. 
Albert M. Russell ; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61 ; age 16 ; trans, from Co. A, Dec. 7, '61 ; capt'd 

at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 7, '64; must, out, with Co., June 25, '65; 

Veteran. 
George Schell ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 28 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec. 14, '64; died at Roanoke Island, N. C, Apr. 20, '65; buried in Nat. Cem. 

New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,159; Veteran. 
George Shakely; must, into serv. Sept. 7, '61; age 30; trans, from Co. A, Dec. 7, '61; capt'd at 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 25, '64; buried in Nat. 

Cem., Andersonville; grave 4,012; Veteran. 
Elijah M. Shierer; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 17; died of wounds received at battle 

of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Moses F. Steele; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 19; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec 7, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, 65 ; Veteran. 
John Spencer ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 22 ; disch. in 1862. 
Jesse G. Stephens ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; died June 28, '62, after marching across White 

Oak Swamp, Va., during "Seven Days' Battle." 
William B. Swan ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; age 45 ; disch., date not given. 
John M. Trimble; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; hon. disch., date not given. 
Jesse Uptegraph ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; disch., date not given. 
Jethro Warner; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; absent on detached service in battery of artillery 

when Co. was capt'd; returned to Reg't in 1864; disch. on exp. of term. 
John T. Weaver; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 17; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Florence, S. C, Jan. 25. '65. 
Andrew Whitacre ; must, into serv. Feb. '64 ; age 18 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Daniel White ; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62 ; died while in the serv., date not given. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 385 

Joshua H. Wright; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 37; disch., date not given. 

Henry Wyant; must, into serv. Jan. 10, '62; age 40; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., June 15, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 

1,974; Veteran. 

COMPANY H. 

James F. Mackey, Capt; must, into serv. Feb 20 '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N.C.. Apr 20 '64 ; 

paroled Mar. 1, '65; com. Major Dec. 15, '64; disch. Mar. 12, 65, by S. O., 121 A. G. 

O., W. D., on account of reduction of command; subsequently must m as Maj. by 

order of W. D., to date Dec. 15, '64. 
Georee W Kelly CapL ; must, into serv. Feb. 20, '62 ; com. Capt. Nov. 1, '63 ; was absent on 

recruiting service when Co. was capt'd; disch. Feb. 21, '65, by reason exp. of term; 

must, as Capt to date Dec 15. '64, by S. O-'W.D., subsequent to discharge « 
J. Milton Alexander, 2d Lieut.; must into serv. Feb 22 62; resigned Feb. 13, 63. 
Stephen D Burns, 2d Lieut. ; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; appomted Sergt. on organization 

of Co. ; 1st Sergt. Aug. 1, '62 ; pro. to 2d Lieut, May 1, '63 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
Sebastian Cook, 1st Sergt.; must into serv. Feb. 22, '65; age 21; appointed Corp. Feb. 22, 

'62; Sergt. Aug. 1, '62; to 1st Sergt., May 1, '63; capt at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 64; 

must out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. _ ^ . ^ , , >t -.r ^ -i 

Samuel P. Gilger, Sergt.; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died at Davis Island, N. Y., Oct 1, 

'62 ; buried in Cypress Hill Cem., Long Island, N. Y. 
William Johnson, Sergt. ; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 21 ; killed in action at Plymouth, 

N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; Veteran. 
Samuel D. Krumbine. Sergt. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; pro. Sergt. Feb. 22, '62 ; disch. July 

29, '62. 
Thomas Benton Potter, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; appointed Sergt. Feb. 22, '62 ; 

died June 23, '62, at White Oak Swamp, Va., of typhoid fever; buried in Nat. Cem., 

Seven Pines, section D, lot 11. 
Jacob Rupert, Sergt. ; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 25 ; pro. to Corp., Feb. 22, '62 ; capt. 

Apr. 20, '64, at Plymouth, N. C. ; pro. to Sergt., May. 1, '65 ; must out with Co., June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
Samuel Rupert, Sergt.; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 22; pro. to Corp. Sept. 1, '62; to 

Sergt. May 1, '63 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Mar. 10, '65 ; must 

out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Edwin Terwilliger, Sergt.; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt at Plymouth, N. C. Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 5, '64 ; buried in Nat Cem., Andersonville ; grave 

2,897. 
John Walters, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62 ; age 21 ; capt at PljTnouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Apr. 28, '62 ; disch. June 8, '65, to date May 18, '65 ; Veteran. 
William E. Gray, Corp. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec. 20, '64 ; disch. Mar. 3, '65, to date Feb. 22, '65. 
William A. Jameson, Corp. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; absent sick when Co. was capt ; 

admitted to Haddington U. S. A. Gen. Hosp., Philada., Pa., Aug. 23, '64; disch. Mar. 

15, '65, exp. of term. 
Samuel McCoy, Corp. ; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62 ; age 22 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; disch. by G. O. June 5, '65 ; Veteran. 
Andrew J. Maze, Corp.; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 5, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; 

grave 7,925. 
Alexander Piatt, Corp. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; died of typhoid fever, June 29, '62, on 

march from White Oak Swamp to Malvern Hill during "Seven Days' Battles." 
Robert R. Reardon, Corp.; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Feb. 24, '65 ; disch. by G. O., June 29, '65 ; Veteran. 
George Schaffer, Corp.; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 21; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; died shortly after reaching home; Veteran. 
Isaac Terwilliger, Corp. ; must into serv. Mar. 23, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, Oct 29, 

'63 ; disch. Mar. 23, '65, at exp. of term. 
John Wion, Corp.; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 10, '64; died at Annapolis, Md., Dec 29, '64, of scorb. bronchitis; buried 

in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 1,542. 
John J. Ashbaugh, Music; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 7, '64 ; must out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Eden H. Graham, Music. ; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 23 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Mar. 2, '65 ; must, out June 5, '65 ; Veteran. 
Daniel Grim, Music. ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; died of typhoid fever, Apr. 4, '62, at 
Alexandria, Va. 



886 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 



Jackson Boyd; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; killed at battle o£ Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 
Samuel Clarence Burkholder; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; wounded and capt. at battle of 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Feb., '65 ; disch. on Surg. cert. May 13, '65. 
John L. Caril ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; disch., date not given. 
George A. Chase ; must, into serv. Dec. 10, '62 ; trans, to Co. G, 99th Regt, Penna. Vols. 
William Causer; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; no further record. 
Peter Cochermyer; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died of typhoid fever, June 23, '62, at 

Douglas Hospital, Washington, D. C. 
Thomas Davis ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 19 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. (Recorded as buried in Nat. Cem., Ander- 

sonville, Ga., grave 3,798.) Veteran. 
Alexander A. Ditty ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not given. 
Richard Dunn ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; missing since Aug. 16, '62, on march from Har- 
rison's Landing to Yorktown, Va. ; marked deserter. 
Adam Eshelman; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; never left home; marked deserter. 
Philip Faust ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; detached on hospital duty at Washington, D. C. ; 

disch. Feb. 28, '65, to date Feb. 22, '65, exp. of term. 
Thomas N. Fulton ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 42 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., June 17, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; 

grave 2,078; Veteran. 
Ephraim Ferry; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; disch., date not given. 

William Ginkle ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; disch. at Fortress Monroe in 1862. 
David W. Girts ; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; sup- 
posed to have died in prison. 
Herman Girts; must, into serv. Feb. 22. '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., July 7, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 2,996. 
Joseph Glasser; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died Dec. 5, '62, of small-pox, at Pittsburgh, Pa. 
William Glasser; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; disch. in 1862 by request of Gov. 

Curtin in response to an appeal from the father. 
David Greenwalt; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; disch. June 23, '62, for disability, by order 

of Gen. Montgomery at Philadelphia, Pa. 
Henrv Groce ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not given. 
Joseph C. K. Groce; must, into serv. Feb. 22. '62; age 19; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 28, '64; Veteran. 
William Hallman; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 32; absent sick when Co. was capt.; 

disch. on Surgt. cert. May 31, '64; (recorded as buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; 

grave, 7,286) ; Veteran. 
John Haney; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died in serv., date not given. 
John Henry; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 16; never left home; marked deserter. 
Daniel Huddleson ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 20; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20. 

'64; died at Annapolis, Md., Jan. 14, *65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md.; grave 

1,410; Veteran. 
George Hull ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; died at Annapolis, Md., date not given. 
Benjamin Irwin; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died Mar. 2, '64, at Beaufort, N. C. 
Hezekiah Irwin ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; died June 3, '62, at Savage Station, of wounds 

received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Hiram Irwin; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 23, '65 ; disch. by G. O. June 19, '65 ; Veteran. 
Perry Irwin; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62; deserted at Plymouth, N. C, Sept. 17, '63. 
Andrew Jackson; must, into serv. Feb. 22. '62; age 21; disch. at New Bern, N. C, in 1863. 
Joseph Johnson; must, into serv. Apr. 17, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Francis Judy ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; missing in action at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, '62. 
Henry Kennedy; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 19; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not 

given. 
William King; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C.,. Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Horace Kiskadden ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Feb. 28, '65 ; disch. Apr. 28, '65, to date Mar. 5, '65. 
Harrison Kizer; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died Apr. 10, '62, of typhoid fever, at Camp 

Casey, near Newport News, Va. 
William Kleck ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 21; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec. 16, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
James Kline ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; disch. June 7, '62, for disability from Mt. Pleasant 

Hospital, Washington, D. C. 
Peter Klingler; must, into serv. Mar. 23, '62; age 19; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 387 

May 31, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Mar. 2, '65; disch. by 
G. O., June 20, '65; Veteran. 
Joseph R. Landis; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 

14, '62; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps.; date not given. 
Ethelbert Lawrence; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; trans, to 4th Regt., U. S. Art., date not 

given. 
John Loll ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; died July 17, '62, at Washington, D. C., of wounds 

received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
John Lower; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Dec. 10, '64, at Charleston, S. C. ; disch. by G. O., June 6, '65 ; Veteran. 
John McElhatten ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; disch. at Philada., Pa., date not given. 
Theodore McPherson ; must, into serv. Apr. 30, '62 ; age 20 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John Mannon ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; no further record. 

James Martin; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 28; never left home with Co.; marked de- 
serted Feb. 22, '62. 
John Martin; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; never left home with Co.; marked de- 
serted Feb. 22, '62. 
John H. Maze; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, Sept. 16. '63; disch. 

Feb. 22, '65; exp. of term. 
Samuel Mull; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 19; never left home with Co.; marked, 

"deserted Feb. 22, '62." 
Samuel E. Mull ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; dropped by order of Col. Lehmann because 

to ill to join the Co. when it left home ; marked "deserted, Feb. 22, '62." 
Sebastian Neidderriter ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 19 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Dec 14, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Eli Philor ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 25 ; trans, to U. S. Art., date not given. 
James Raffarty; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 31; never left home with Co.; marked 

"deserted, Feb. 22, '62." 
John A. Redick; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; supposed to have died in prison ; Veteran. 
Alexander Reed; must into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died Nov. 27, '63, of chronic diarrhea, at 

Beaufort, N. C. 
Hiram Reed ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 
Robert Reed; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 25; died at Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 24, '64; 

buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave, 9,659 ; Veteran. 
Samuel F. Rodgers; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Mar. 1, '65; disch. Apr. 12, '65, to date Mar. 17, '65. 
William W. Sheets ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 27 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 23, '64; Veteran. 
Joseph Shill ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '61 ; absent sick when Co. was capt. ; disch. Feb. 21, 

'65, exp. of term. 
Emory Slocum ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Feb. 27, '65; disch. May 9, '65, to date Mar. 5, '65. 
John Smith ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '65 ; trans, to U. S. Art., date not given. 
William L. Stroup ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 35 ; capt'd at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, as reported by comrades, date not given; Veteran. 
George Swartsfager; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; wounded accidentally July 31, '62, while 
on camp guard at Harrison's Landing, Va., and subsequently discharged by reason of 
wounds ; date not given. 
David Thomas ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died while a prisoner of war at Florence, S. C, Oct. 22, '64. 
James Thompson; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died June 26, '62, of remittent fever, at 

Baltimore, Md. 
James Thompson ; must into serv. Dec. 9, '63 ; age 24 ; never joined Co. 
James L. Travis; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Charleston, S. C, in Sept. or Oct., 1864; Veteran. 
Adam Turney; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died July 18. '62, at Philadelphia, Pa., of 

wounds received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Samuel Wadsworth ; must, into serv. Feb. 22. '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled in Feb., '65 ; died at Annapolis, Md., Apr. 14, '65 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annap- 
olis ; grave, 3. 
George W. Walters; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Charleston, S. C, Oct. 24. '64. 
Lester R. Warner ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 21 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Peter D. Waterson ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 22; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps; date 
not given. 



888 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

George H. Wetzel; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 

14, '62. 
Eugene E. Widel ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled, Dec. 14, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Jacob Williams ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; trans, to 4th Regt. U. S., Art. ; date not given. 
Frank Willman ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 42 ; disch. in 1863 at New Bern, N. C. 
Samuel P. Wilson; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. €., Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Dec. 20, '64; must, out at Pittsburgh, Pa., by G. O., Mar. 3, '65, to date Feb. 

22. '65. 
Horace Young; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; died at White House, June, '62. 
Daniel Zimmerman ; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62 ; age 33 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Florence, S. C., Oct. 7, '64; Veteran. 

COMPANY I. 

Wilson C. Maxwell, Capt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; pro. to Lieut. Col. Mar. 1, '62. 
William Fielding, Capt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; pro. to Capt. Mar. 1, '62; hon. disch. 

Jan. 16, '65. 
William H. H. Kiester, 1st Lieut. ; must, into serv. Jan. 12, '62 ; pro. to 2d Lieut. Mar. 1, '62 ; 
to 1st Lieut. June 30, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; must out 
with Co. June 25, '65. 
William C. McCrum, 1st Lieut.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; resigned Apr. 11, '62. 
Geo. K. M. Crawford, 2d Lieut.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; pro. to 2d Lieut. June 30, '62; 
resigned July 17, '63. 

Jackson McCoy, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 25 ; appointed Sergt. at or- 
ganization of Co.; pro. to 1st. Sergt., June 30, '62; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. 
C, Dec. 14, '62; com. 2d Lieut. July 10, '63, but not must.; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 22, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

John C. Applegate, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; pro. to Sergt Maj. of Regt., May 
1, '63. 

Michael Duffy, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 23; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; pro. to Corp. Jan. 1, '63; to Sergt. July 1, '63; capt. at 
Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Vet- 
eran. 

William Gorman, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 23; pro. to Sergt. Nov. 1, '62; 
wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 14, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., Nov. 23, '64; Veteran. 

John S. Hodil, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; appointed Sergt. at organization of 
Co. ; disch. July 18, '63, and must, same day as Hos. Stew., U. S. A., from which he 
was disch. Oct. 28, '65. 

Jacob S. Kiester, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 28; pro. Corp. Sept. 1, '62; 
wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62; pro. to Sergt. Jan. 1, '64; capt. at 
Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 23, '64 ; Veteran. 

William McBride, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 32 ; wounded and capt. at Ply- 
mouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Nov. 30, '64; hon. disch. by G. O., June 21, '65; 
Veteran. 

James McKain, Sergt.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 22; disch. at Baltimore, Md., date 
not given. 

Hiram Donaldson, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; wounded at battle of Fair 
Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; pro. to Corp. Aug. 25, '63; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64 ; died at Florence, S. C, Jan. 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

James Harper, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; detached as brigade Forage Master Jan. 
20, '63; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec, '64; died at Annapolis. 
Md., Jan. 5, '65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave, 356; Veteran. 

Albert G. C. Johnston, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 26; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 4, '64 ;■ buried in Nat. Cem., Anderson- 
ville; grave, 2,889; Veteran. 

John A. Kelley, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 15; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 
Va., May 31, '62; pro. to Corp. Aug. 25, '63; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
paroled Mar. 1, '65 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

John McAnnallon, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Feb. 27, '63, at New Bern, N. C. 

Andrew J. McCoy, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 30; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 
Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec, '65 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 

David McCoy, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; hon. disch. on Surg. cert. June 22, '62. 

John B. Porter, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; died of typhoid fever. May 11, '62, at 
Camp Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, Va. 

David S. Ramsey, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Sept. 17, '62, at Harrisburg, Pa. 

James Range, Corp.; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 22; wounded at battle of Kinston, 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 389 

N. C, Dec 14, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Florence, S. C, 

Jan. 25, '65; Veteran. 
Alpheus Walker, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Apr. 27, '63, at Providence, R. I. 
Daniel Albright, Music ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Dec. 15, '62. 
James N. Elliott, Music ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Oliver P. Harris, Music ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 40 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Charleston, S. C, Oct. 6, '64 ; Veteran. 

PRFVATES. 

Patton Bell; must, into serv. Dec 16, '61; disch. Oct. 12, '62; re-enlisted Feb. 29, '64; must 

out with Co. June 25, '65. 
Samuel Berringer; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61; died at Beaufort, N. C, Dec. 14, '63; buried 

in Nat. Cem., New Bern, N. C, plot 7, grave 1,223. 
Solomon Blair ; must, into serv. Dec 16, '61 ; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 14, 

'62; disch. Mar. 28, '63, by reason of wounds. 
Joseph Blakely ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; wounded and taken prisoner at battle 
of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62 ; exchanged ; again capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; paroled and died at Annapolis, Md., Apr. 11, '65; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis, 
grave 1,264; Veteran. 
Charles Cochran ; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; capt. at Pl3miouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 4, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave 
4,729; Veteran. 
James Collingwood; must, into serv. Dec 16, '61; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 

14. '62. 
James Cowan ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; left Co. sick for hosp. in May 1, '62 ; dropped 

from rolls as deserter Feb. 24, '63. 

Arthur Crawford ; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; last seen of him was at Florence, S. C, supposed to have died in prison; Veteran. 

William_ H. Croop; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 3, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; prravc 

4,682. 

Major James Davidson; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 

May 31, '62; disch. on Surg. cert, by reason of wounds, June 24, '62. 
Nathan E. Davis; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 20; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 
Va., May 31, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Feb. 24, '65; disch. 
by G. O., June 6, '65 ; Veteran. 
Thomas J. Day; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age; 18 died Apr. 5, '62, of typhoid fever, at 

Washington, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
Simon P. Dufiy; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 18; died May 10, '62, at Washington, 

D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
Samuel A. Dunlap ; must, into serv. Sept. 22, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 
paroled ; died Mar. 22, '65, of disease contracted in prison at Relay House , Md., 
en route home on furlough. 
William P. Dunlap ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 23 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Dec 10, '64 ; absent on furlough when Co. was must, out ; Veteran- 
David Eakin ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. on Surg, cert., Jan. 7, '63. 
John Fielding; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch, on Surg, cert., July 7, '62. 
Flemming, Samuel E. ; must, into serv. Feb. 15, '65; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
David M. Gallagher; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 30; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks 
and again at battle of Kinston; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at An- 
dersonville, Ga., Aug. 20, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 5,888; Vet- 
eran. 
John Ghost; must, into serv. Dec 16. '61; died June 17, '62, of typhoid fever at White Oak 

Swamp, Va. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Seven Pines, Va. 
Samuel Gibson ; must, into serv. Apr. 9, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. 
William H. Gilmore; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 21; wounded and capt. at Plymouth. 

N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
George W. GrifiSn; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec 

14, '62. 
John Griffin; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 33; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
died at Andersonville. Ga., July 7, '64; buried in Nat. Cem. at Andersonville; irrave 
2,988. 
Joseph S. Griffin; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 28; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Thomas C. Hacket ; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disdi. on Surg, cert Nov. 19, '62, at 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
James Hamilton ; must into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; died July 16, '62, at Philadelphia, Pa. ; buried 
in Cypress Hill Cem., Philada., Pa. 



390 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

William Hamilton; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. on Surg, cert.. Mar. 28, '63, at New- 
Bern, N. C. 
Oliver P. Hardy; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 25; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; died Sept. 15, '64, while a prisoner of war. 
Christopher Henderson ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 21 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64; died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., Mar. 16, '65, of typhoid fever; buried in 
Nat. Cem., Annapolis, Md. ; grave 91 : Veteran. 
Alexander Hilliard; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 22; wounded at battle of Kinston, 
N. C, Dec. 14, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died Jan. 30, '65, while a 
prisoner of war; Veteran. 
Henry Hobaugh ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; died at Suffolk, Va., Dec. 14, '62. 
Philip B. Hovis ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 22 ; wounded and capt. at Plymouth, N. 

C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died, while a prisoner of war. 
John S. Joseph ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 24 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 
died after being paroled at Wilmington, N. C. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Wilmington 
(burial record L. R. Joseph) ; grave 990; Veteran. _ 
William Joseph ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; died July 2, '62 ; buried in Mil. Asy. 

Cem., Washington, D. C. 
Samuel Kelley; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; hon. disch. on Surgt. cert. Dec. 27, '62. 
Epaphroditis Kiester ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 
20, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 20, '64 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; 
grave 3,634; Veteran. 
Uriah Kiester; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. by G. O., W. D., May 11, '65. 
James S. Lytle ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 33 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec. 22, '64; died the same night he reached his home. 
Joseph P. McAnallon ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Mar. 28, '63, on Surgt. cert, at 

New Bern, N. C. 
Patrick McAnallon ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62 ; died July 15, '62, from wounds, at Harrison's Landing, Va. 
James K. McCleary; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 

14, '62 ; died of wounds Mar. 7, '63, at New Bern, N. C. 
Calvin McCoy; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; died Dec. 16, '62, of wounds received at battle 

of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 
Thomas J. McCoy; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 29; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 
Va., May 31, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled ; must, out with Co. 
June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Elijah H. McDonald; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62. 
David McElphatrick ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 28 ; disch. on Surg. cert, at Gov- 
ernor's Island, N. Y., Nov. 4, '62. 
Robert M. McElphatrick ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
James McGhee; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., July 28, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 4,123. 
Helm J. McGill; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. on Surg. cert. Aug. 11, '64; recorded 
as died at Andersonville, Ga.. Sept. 11. '64; grave 8,469, name probably assumed by 
Union North Carolina soldier who had deserted from the Confederate army. 
John McGuirk; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled 

Dec. 10, '64 ; disch. Apr. 13, '65, to date Feb. 22, '65. 
James P. McLaughlin ; must, into serv. Dec. 16. '61 ; died May 10, '62, of typhoid fever at 

Washington, D. C. ; buried in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. 
Matthew McNees; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 
'62 ; died July 3, '62, of wounds, at Annapolis, Md. ; buried in Nat. Cem., Annapolis ; 
grave 1,892. 
Samuel McNees ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Aug. 3, '62, on Surg. cert. 
James McSorley; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 35; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga. ; no further record ; Veteran. 
William Major; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 21; wounded at battle of Kinston, N. C, 
Dec. 14, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 
22, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 3,793; Veteran. 
James M. Maxwell; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; died May 4, '62, at Camp Winfield Scott, 

near Yorktown, Va. 
Albert G. Mayberry; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. early in 1862. 

Fowler Miller ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
John W. Miller; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; deserted; date not given. 

Thomas L. Morris ; must, into serv. Dec. 16. '61 ; died June 24, '62, at Annapolis, Md., of 
wounds received at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; buried in Nat. Cem., An- 
napolis; grave 1,799. 
Patrick Nolan ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 391 

Francis Nutt; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 29; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Florence, S. C, Nov. 9, '64; Veteran. 
Thomas O'Connor; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 34; died of wounds received at battle 

of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
James W. Orr; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 21; disch. on Surg. cert. Aug. 13, '62, at 

Baltimore, Md. 
William Powers ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; killed at battle of Kinston, N. C, Dec. 14, '62. 
Samuel P. Range ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 20 ; died of wounds received at battle 

of Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 17-20, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., New Bern, N. G., plot 7, 

grave 1,137 ; Veteran. 
William Reid; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. on Surg. cert. Sept. 16, '62, at Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 
Milo A. Sankey ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; died at New Bern, N. G., Jan. 7, '63 of 

wounds received in action at battle of Kinston, N. G., Dec. 14, '62. 
Robert M. Seeton ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 40 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks 

Va., May 31, '62; capt. by Stuart's Cavalry, June 14, '62; exchanged and capt. at 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 8, '64 ; buried in Nat. 

Gem., Andersonville; grave 3,057. 
James Shinar ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 30 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va-, 

May 31, '62; disch. Feb. 7, '63, on Surg. cert, on account of wounds, at New Bern' 

N. C. • ' 

Martin Staff ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 18 ; disch. Apr. 15, '62, at Washington, D C. 
William Staff; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. July 18, '63, on Surg. cert. 
David Stinedurf; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 28; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; comrades report him as paroled and dying en route home ; Veteran. 
Samuel Sylvies ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; wounded and capt. at battle of Fair Oaks. Va. 

May 31, '62; died of wounds while a prisoner of war at Richmond, Va., July 6 '62 
John D. Taggart ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; disch. Sept. 29, '62, at New York City' 
Paul L.Taylor; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 20; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. '20, '64; 

died while a prisoner of war; Veteran. 
John A. Thompson; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. May 10, '62, at Washington D C 
John N. Thompson ; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61 ; age 18 ; disch. May 15, '62, at Washington, 

Samuel A. Walker; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. at Pittsburgh, Pa.. Feb 24 '65 to 
date Feb. 22, '65. • . . 

Richard Walters; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; disch. Jan. 12, '63, at Fortress Monroe Va 

Hugh Alexander Weakly; must, into serv. Dec. 16, '61; age 23; wounded at battle of 'Fair 
Oaks, Va., May 31, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. G, Apr. 20. '64; died shortly after being 
paroled, at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 24, '64; Veteran. 

Richard West ; colored ; must, into serv. as cook, Mar. 31, '64 ; capt. at Plymouth, N G Apr 
20, '64; made his escape; must, out with Co., June 25, '65. ' ■ •' ^ ■ 

COMPANY K 

James Adams, Capt; enlisted in Co. B, Sept. 24, '61, for 3 yrs. ; com and must Cant Co 

K, Feb. 22, '62 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps ; hon. disch. Mar. 26 '64 • p • • 

David M. Spence, 1st Lieut. ; com. and must. 1st Lieut. Co. K, Oct. 28, '61 ; com Capt Mar 

24, '64, but never mustered; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; hon disch by S O 

W. D., Mar. 30, '65, exp. of term. ■ j ■ ■> 

William B. Kroesen, 2d Lieut.; must, into serv. Dec. 15, '61; trans, from Co. D Nov 11 

'61 ; pro. to 2d Lieut. Dec. 15. '61 ; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va Mav 31 '62 ' 

resigned July 12, '62. . j . , 

Daniel Krug, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 21; pro. to 1st. Sergt Jan 2 '64- 

must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Joseph C. Mapes, 1st Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died Dec. 29. '62. at New Bern 

N. C, of wounds received at battle of Kinston, N. C; buried in Nat Gem New 

Bern, plot 7, grave 1,148. 
David Baughman, Sergt.; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 20; wounded and capt at Plv- 

mouth N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Apr. 28, '65; disch. June 8, '65, to date May 18 

65; Veteran. -^ ' 

David Cartwright, Sergt.; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 21; com. 2d Lieut. July 18 

63 ; not must. ; disch., date not given. ' 

Alexander Duncan, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 24 ; capt. at Plymouth N C 

Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 10, '64; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Veteran 
Henry Graff, Sergt.; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 33; disch. on Surg cert., date not 

given. 
James Sergent, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given 
Joseph Thom, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 45 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps 



392 103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 

Thomas J. Walters, Sergt. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 19 ; must, out with Co., June 

25, '65; Veteran. 
Abram Beatty, Corp. ; must, into serv. Dec. 20, '61 ; age 21 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled and disch., date not given; Veteran. 
Oliver P. Campbell, Corp. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 10, '64 ; absent on furlough when Co. was must, out ; Vet- 
eran. 
Thomas Craft (Strahorn), Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 25, '62; absent sick at Gen. Hosp., 

Beaufort, N. C, from Oct. 19, '63, until Aug., '64; disch. on exp. of term. 
Henderson Richey, Corp.; must, into serv. Oct. 2, '61 ; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20, '64; paroled Mar. 31, '65; disch. by G. O. June 14, '65, to date June 1, '65; Vet- 
eran. 
Hugh Smith, Corp. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; disch. on Surg. cert. Oct. 8, '62. 
John Staugle, Corp.; must, into serv. Jan. 4, '62; died at New Bern, N. C, Dec. 29, '62, of 

wounds received at battle of Kinston, N. C. ; buried in Nat. Cem., New Bern, plot 7, 

grave 1,165. 
Newton Stoughton, Corp. ; must, into serv. Feb. 12, '62 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64; supposed to have died in prison. 
William H. Cadwell, Music. ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died July 7, '62, at Fortress 

Monroe, Va. 
Clarence B. Gelston, Music; must, into serv. Dec. 25, '61; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, 

Apr. 20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 16, '64 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
Sylvester G. Rosentiel, Music; must, into serv. Sept. 24, '61; age 18; trans, to Co. A, Jan. 

1, '64 ; Veteran. 
Calvin Wait, Wagoner ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not 

given. 

PRIVATES. 

John Allman ; must, into serv. Oct. 2, '61 ; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
Frederick Beck ; must, into serv. Dec. 17, '61 ; age 41 ; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given. 
Henry Beelar ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; disch. Feb. 22, '62, on writ of habeas corpus. 
John W. Blair ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died Feb. 6, '63, at Fortress Monroe, Va. 
George B. Bowers; must, into serv. Oct. 29, '63; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 18, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville ; grave 6,074. 
J. C. Boyle; must, into serv. Feb. 22, '62; deserted, date not given. 

William Bryant ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 43 ; disch. on Surg, cert, date not given. 
James Burk; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; died Apr. 28, '62, of measles, at Yorktown, Va. ; 

buried in Nat. Cem., Yorktown, Sec. B, grave 227. 
Thomas Burns ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 : age 18 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Mar. 23, 

'64; returned to Co. Aug. 15, '64, per S. O., W. D. ; disch. Dec 26, '64; there being 

no record of Burns on hie with the Regiment until his descriptive list was received, 

Dec. 26. '64, he was held beyond his term of enlistment. 
Samuel Calvin ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., July 4, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; grave 2,884; Vet- 
eran. 
Hugh Campbell; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; paroled Dec. 16, '64 ; must, out with Co., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
George Carlton ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 28 ; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given. 
James A. Courtney; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 23; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 

20. '64; died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 27, '64, per affidavit of Alex. Duncan; Veteran. 
Joseph Cox ; drafted Jan. 31, '64 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64 ; died at Ander- 
sonville, Ga., July 29, '64; buried in Nat. Cem., Andersonville; name given James 

Cox ; grave 4,357. 
James Denning; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 19; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; paroled Dec. 11, '64; must, out with Co., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Patrick Dignan ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 20 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20> 

'64 ; paroled ; absent on furlough when Co. was must, out ; Veteran. 
James Fitzgerald; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 19; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64; no further record; Veteran. 
Hugh Fitzsimons; must, into serv. Dec. 20, '61; age 43; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given. 
Alexander Forbes ; must, into serv. Dec. 28, '61 ; age 43 ; disch. on Surg. cert. 
William Gardner ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 22 ; must, out with Co. June 25, '65 ; 

Veteran. 
Dolphus Garrett ; must, into serv. Dec. 20, '63, as Co. cook (colored) ; missing in action 

at battle of Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64. 
Richard Griffith ; must, into serv. Jan. 25, '"62 ; age 26 ; deserted Feb. 27, '62. 
Titus Hardy; must, into serv. Dec. 1, '63, as cook (colored); missing in action battle of 

Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64. 
John Hawk; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; disch. on Surg. cert. Feb. 18, '62. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 393 

Harrison Heasly; must, into serv. JaiL 25, '62; disch. on Surg, cert., Feb. 14, '63. 

John Heasly; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 37; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 

no further record; Veteran. 
Thomas Hogan ; must, into serv. Jan. 5, '62 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20 '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 29, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville • grave 

6,792; Veteran. 
Francis Hoover ; must, into serv. Jan. 25, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64 • paroled 

Mar. 1, '65; disch. May 15, '65, to date Mar. 6, '65. 
John Hughs; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 20; deserted Feb. 22, '62. 
James M. Jones ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 28 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C., Apr 20 

'64; died at Gharleston. S. C., Oct. 1, '64; Veteran. ' ' 

William Justice; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 

31, '62; died from wound, Aug. 19, '62, at hospital in Philadelphia. Pa. 
Henry W. Kaemerer; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; died Feb. 19, '64, at Plymouth. N. C., of 

chronic diarrhea; buried in U. S. Nat. Gem., New Bern, N. C. ; grave 1,206. 
Edward Keyser ; must, into serv. Jan. 2, '62 ; age 18 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 

'64 ; absent on furlough when Go. was must, out ; Veteran. 
Thomas Knox ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died June 10, '62, of wounds received at battle 

of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
John Koch; drafted Jan. 31, '64; capt. at Plymouth, N. G, Apr. 20, '64; died at Anderson- 
ville, Ga., Aug. 24, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville; grave 6,711. 
Terrence Laughrin; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given. 
Amos Lindsey; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 22; deserted June 27, '62. 
John McQung; must, into serv. Feb. 1, '62; killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, '62. 
John W. G. McGurdy; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 

20, '64 ; paroled Dec. 16, '64 ; must, out with Co., Jime 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
John McFarland ; must, into serv. Jan. 5, '62 ; age 19 ; deserted, date not given. 
Franklin Mclntyre ; drafted Jan. 31, '64 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; no further 

record. 
Jacob Moreland; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 17; disch. on Surg, cert, date not given. 
John H. Moreland ; must, into serv. Oct. 28. '61 ; disch. on Surg. cert. Feb. 26, '63. 
Patrick Murphy ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; disch. on Surg. cert. Sept. 29, '62. 
Andrew Nelson ; must, into serv. Aug. 7, '62 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; died at 

Andersonville, Ga., July 22, '64 ; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville ; grave 3,822. 
Aaron Penny; must, into serv. Dec. 26, '61; age 20; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64; 

paroled Nov., '64 ; must, out with Go., June 25, '65 ; Veteran. 
George Pettigrew ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 23 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr 20 

'64 ; paroled Apr. 7, '65 ; disch. June 15, '65, to date May 23, '65 ; Veteran. 
John Price ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died at Annapolis, Md., June 18, '62, from wound 

received at battle of Fair Oaks ; buried in Mil. Asy. Gem., D. G. 
Samuel Reed; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; died suddenly of cramps at Gamp Winfield 

Scott near Yorktown, Va., Apr. 30, '62 ; buried in Nat. Gem., Yorktown, Va., Section 

B, grave 233. 
Thomas C. Reeseman ; must, into serv. Jan. 5, '62; died July 28. '62, at Point Lookout. Md. 
Hugh Richardson ; must, into serv. Jan. 2, '62 ; age 21 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, '64 ; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 31, '64; buried in Nat. Gem., Andersonville- grave 

7,410; Veteran. 
Richard R. Riland ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 25 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20. 

'64 ; no further record ; Veteran. 
Tames R. Rose; must, into serv. Jan. 5, '62; deserted June 27, '62. 
Robert St. Glair: must, into serv. Feb. 12, '62; age 44; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 

Va., May 31, '62; disch. on Surg, cert., date not given. 
Lamberton Seaton ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; capt. at Pl3Tnouth, N. G., Apr 20 '64 • 

paroled Dec. 6, '64; disch. Feb. 22, '65. 
John Sharrett; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 22; trans, to Vet. Res. Gorps, date not 

given. 
Patrick Shea ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; age 18 : capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, '64 ; 

paroled Dec., '64; must, out with Go., June 25, '65; Veteran. 
Michael Sheridan ; must, into serv. Dec. 13, '61 ; age 23 ; capt. at Plymouth, N. G., Apr. 20, 

'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., Feb. 18, '65; buried in Andersonvillle Nat. Gem. ;' 

grave 12,676; Veteran. 
Alfred G. Shira;'must. into serv. Oct. 28. '61; age 19; deserted Aug. 10, '62. 
Samuel Shoop; must, into serv. Dec. 5, '61; age 19; capt. at Plymouth. N. G., Apr. 20, '64; 

died at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 19, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Gem.; grave 

6,205; Veteran. 
George Smith; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 16; discharged on Surg, cert., date not 

given. 
Thomas A. Smith; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; absent sick from Oct.' 19, '63; disch. Oct. 

28, '64, on exp. of term. 



394 



103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 



George Stidam; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 18; must, out with Co. June 25, '65; Vet- 
eran. 

Patrick Sullivan; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61; age 42; wounded at battle of Fair Oaks, 
Va., May 31, '62; disch. on Surg, cert, date not given. 

John Taylor ; must, into serv. Feb. 12, '62 ; deserted Aug. 10, '62. 

Andrew Thorn; must, into serv. Jan. *5, '62; died July 8, '62, at Philadelphia, Pa.; buried 
in Lafayette Cem., Philada., Pa. 

William Todd; must, into serv. Nov. 13, '61; age 18; capt. at Plymouth, N. C., Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Andersonville, Ga., July 17, '64; buned in Andersonville Nat. Cem.; grave 
3,473; Veteran. 

Jacob Voltz ; must, into serv. Feb. 12, '62 ; age 43 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date not given. 

Jacob Weaver; must, into serv. Oct. 30, '61; died Aug. 21, '62, at Philadelphia, Penna. 

Edward W. White; must, into serv. Feb. 1, '62; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; 
died at Andersonville Aug. 29, '64; buried in Andersonville Nat. Cem.; grave 7,277; 
Veteran. 

James Willis; drafted Nov. 29, '63; capt. at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, '64; paroled Dec. 6, 
'64; disch. Apr. 10, '65, to date Dec. 12, '64; formerly belonged to 165th Penna. 

Lewis Wise; must, into serv. Jan. 12, '62; age 42; disch. Mar. 31, '63. 

John Worchter ; must, into serv. Oct. 28, '61 ; died at Davis Island, N. Y., Aug. 8, '62. 

William Wragg; 'must, into serv. Dec. 13, '61; age 45; capt at Plymouth, N. C, Apr. 20, 
'64; died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 22, '64, shortly after paroled; Vet- 
eran. 

NEW COMPANIES. 

The men comprised in the following eight companies were mustered into the service 

for one year, in the spring of 1865. They came to the Regiment a short time before the 

Confederacy collapsed, to fill up its depleted ranks, but before a reorganization was effected, 

the war ended and they were mustered out (except as otherwise noted) with the Regiment, 

at New Bern, N. C, June 25, 1865, and received their final discharge at Harrisburg, Pa., 

July 13, 1865. 1 

COMPANY A, 2D. 



Elias K. Lehman, Capt.; Mar. 17, '65. 
George C Carson, 1st Lt. ; Mar. 17, '65. 
Sam'I H. Eicholtz, 2d Lt. ; Mar. 17, '65. 
Frederick K. Rife, 1st Sgt.; Mar. 1, '65. 
Peter Leer, Sergt. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
John G. Ritter, Sergt. ; Mar. 1, '65. 
Samuel Lentz, Sergt.; Mar. 6, '65. 
Amos G. Huber, Sergt.; Mar. 15, '65. 
George Robertson, Corp. ; Mar. 1, '65. 
H. W. Hartsell, Corp. ; Mar. 6, '65. 



Fredde Fixsen, Corp.; Mar. 13, '65. 
Jacob G. Eicholtz, Corp. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
Joseph Gabler, Corp.; Mar. 1, '65. 
Wm. H. Hewitt, Corp.; Mar. 6, '65. 
Henry L Reitzell, Corp.; Mar. 15, '65. 
Israel Slothover, Corp. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
Charles E. Porter, Music. ; was not must, into 

serv. 
David C. Guyer, Music; Mar. 1, '65. 



PRIVATES. 



Samuel Allison, Mar. 1, '65. 

John J. Burtsfield, Mar. 1, '65. 

Sam'I A. Burgner, Mar. 1, '65. 

John N. Burgner, Mar. 1, '65. 

John A. Byers, Mar. 1, '65. 

Jeremiah M. Byers, Mar. 13, '65. 

Jacob Brown, Mar. 1, '65. 

Henry M. Bishop, Mar. 6, '65. 

Jeremiah A. Bowers, Mar. 6, '65. 

Jacob Bream, Mar. 6, '65. 

William P. Becker, Mar. 13, '65. 

William B. Baker, Mar. 6, '65 ; deserted Mar. 

22, '65. 
George G. Creamer, Mar. 1, '65. 
John H. Curbaugh, Mar. 1, '65. 
Daw. K. Clevenger, Mar. 7, '65. 
Albert B. Crist, Mar. 6, '65. 
Daniel Fraker, Mar. 1, '65. 
Jacob S. Fulton, Mar. 8, '65. 
Peter Fix, Mar. 8, '65. 
Amos Fohl, Mar. 6, '65. 
Lewis Fohl, Mar. 6. '65. 
David Fry, Mar. 1, '65. 
Solomon Gabler, Mar. 1, '65. 



Oliver Guyer, Mar. 1, '65. 
Samuel Gifford, Mar. 8, '65. 
Peter Group, Mar. 6, '65. 
Michael Hammon, Mar. 1, '65. 
Benj. G. Huber, Mar. 1, '65. 
Aquilla Hancock, Mar. 1, '65. 
George Hile, Mar. 4, 1865. 
Chas. H. Hoffman, Mar. 14, '65. 
John Haines, Mar. 13, '65. 
Abraham Hoffman, Mar. 6, '65. 
George O. Kuhn, Mar. 3, '65. 
William F. Kunkle, Mar. 16, '65. 
George Kelly, Mar. 6, '65. 
Jer'h Longenecker, Mar. 1, '65. 
William P. Mackey, Mar. 1, '65. 
Robert Mitchell, Mar. 1, '65. 
Robert Mosser, Mar.. 13, '65. 
James A. McKee, Mar. 6, '65. 
William B. McKee, Mar. 1, '65. 
David McKee, Mar. 4, '65. 
Mark Pugh, Mar. 1, '65. 
Jacob Pugh, Mar. 14, '65. 
John J. H. PhiUips, Mar. 1, '65. 
J. M. Pittentorf, Mar. 7, '65. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 



895 



Jacob Pottorf, Mar. 16, '65. 
George W. Roth, Mar. 6, '65. 
Leander A. Roth, Mar. 6, '65. 
Jacob A. Shirk, Mar. 1, '65. 
Jacob Shirk, Mar. 1, '65. 
Gideon Stake, Mar. 8, '65. 
David Stouffer, Mar. 15, '65. 
Albert Shock, Mar. 6, '65. 
John A. Slaybaugh, Mar. 6, '65. 
Peter Stenour, Mar. 6, '65. 
Sam'l G. Spangler, Mar. 7, '65. 
Daniel Starrj', Mar. 15, '65. 
Ezra Shugh, Mar. 16, '65. 



Gideon Smith, Mar. 6, '65. 

Henry A. Stahl, Mar. 6, '65. 

John T. Saddler. Mar. 16, '65. 

Eli Slaybaugh, Mar. 6, '65; absent sick at 

must. out. 
Isaiah Test, Mar. 13, '65. 
Samuel Upperman, Alar. 6, '65. 
Joseph Upperman, Mar. 6, '65. 
Samuel linger, Mar. 13, '65. 
Robert S. Worthington, Mar. 1, '65. 
Benj. F. West, Mar. 6, '65; deserted Mar. 17, 

'65. 



COMPANY B, 2D. 



George H. Jones, Capt. ; Mar. 28, '65. 
Elias B. Yordy, 1st Lt.; Mar. 28, '65. 
William E. Sterner, 2d Lt; Mar. 28, '65; 

disch. Mar. 27, '65, to receive pro. as 2d 

Lieut, in Co. B. 
John G. Gilroy, 1st Sergt. ; Mar. 22, '65. 
Frank B. Gibson, Sergt.; Feb. 27, '65. 
Henry C. Hartman, Sergt.; Mar. 18, '65. 
Alvah Wolcott, Sergt.; Mar. 23, '65. 



Joseph S. Shannon, Sergt.; Mar. 2, '65. 
Elias Hoffman, Corp., Feb. 23, '65 
Thos. B. Wiilliams, Corp. ; Mar. 18, '65. 
Jacob W. Fisher, Corp.; Feb. 22, '65. 
William Thomas, Corp. ; Mar. 2, '65. 
John Cox, Corp. ; Mar. 21, '65. 
Jacob F. Fox, Corp. ; Mar. 18, '65. 
Chester C. Marr, Corp.; Mar. 18, '65. 
A. M. Cadwalader, Corp.; Mar. 18, '65. 



David Alberson, Mar. 2, '65. 
Ananias Auman, Feb. 28, '65. 
Henry F. Bodine, Mar. 2, '65. 
George Brant, Mar. 2, '65. 
David Briam, Mar. 2, '65. 
Abraham Bennett, Mar. 18, '65. 
Dennison Brink, Mar. 18, '65. 
Daniel Boice, Mar. 13, '65. 
Charles Bradshaw, Mar. 23, '65; 

date not given. 
John Cadman, Mar. 18, '65. 
Lloyd Cox, Mar. 13, '65. 
Able Diley, Mar. 2, '65. 
Thomas Evans, Mar. 2, '65. 
John W. Evans, Mar. 23, '65. 
James D. Evans, Mar. 16, '65. 
Beroh B. Freas, Mar. 2, '65. 
Henry Colder, Feb. 16, '65. 
Azme V. Hower, Mar. 18, '65. 
Thomas Hopkins, Mar. 13, '65. 
Charles Hart, Mar. 2, '65. 
Gideon Heist, Mar. 2, '65. 
William Howell, Mar. 2, '65. 
Shadrach Hess, Feb. 16, '65. 
Jacob Hartzell, Mar. 18, '65. 
Fred'k Hendershot, Mar. 18, '65. 
John Heist, Mar. 18, '65. 
John C. Jones, Mar. 13, '65. 
Franklin Jones, Mar. 13, '65. 
Richard Jones, Mar. 13, '65. 
Amos Krumm, Mar. 2, '65. 
Andrew T. Klett, Feb. 22, '65. 
Eli Kitchen, Mar. 18, '65. 
Harmon Kline, Mar. 2, '65. 
Charles Kunkle, Mar. 13. '65. 
Isaac H. Kitchen, Mar. 18, '65. 



PRI\'ATES. 

John Long, Mar. 2, '65. 
Robert Morris, Mar. 2, '65. 
William Mittever, Feb. 21, '65. 
Phillip S. Mover, Mar. 18, '65. 
Samuel J. Millard, Mar. 18, '65. 
William May, Mar. 18, '65. 
John B. Mears, Mar. 18, '65. 
Isaac Neuss, Mar. 2, '65. 
deserted, John Owens, Mar. 2, '65. 

John D. Powell, Mar. 2, '65. 
Abiathon Powell, Mar. 13, '65. 
John Penneman, Mar. 18, '65. 
John C Richart, Mar. 2, '65. 
Patrick Rooney, Mar. 2, '65. 
Wel'n H. Reiswick, Mar. 18, '65. 
John Rehm, Mar. 18, '65. 
M. Riechaeldirfer, Mar. 18, '65; died at Roa- 
noke Island, N. C, Apr. 18, '65. 
Jacob Stiner, Mar. 18, '65. i 
William Sands, Mar. 2, '65. 
Jonas Shipe, Mar. 2, '65. 
Harrison Shaffer, Mar. 2, '65. 
George I. Snyder, Mar. 2, '65. 
Valentine Stout, Feb. 16, '65. 
John R. Stephenson, Feb. 16, '65. 
Moses Stiff, Mar. 13, '65. 
Joseph Snyder, Mar. 13, '65. 
Jesse Summers, Mar. 18, '65 ; absent sick at 

must. out. 
Hiram W. Thornton, Mar. 21, '65. 
Wm. Terwilliger, Mar. 2, '65. 
William Trout, Mar. 2, '65. 
Benj. Vannatter, Mar. 18, '65. 
Peter Van Liew, Mar. 18, '65. 
George Williams, Mar. 18, '65. 



COMPANY C, 2D. 



George Shipp, Capt.; Mar. 29, '65. 
Jefferson ML John, 1st Lt. ; Max. 29, '65. 
Owen M. Fowler, 2d Lt.; Mar. 29, '65. 



C. H. Crosthwaite, 1st Sgt.; Mar. 9, '65. 
James Harris, Sergt. ; Mar. 10, '65. 
Henry W. Burns, Sergt.; Mar. 10, '65. 



396 



103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 



Azariah Campbell, Sergt. ; Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry Shipp, Sergt.; Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry P. Raup, Corp.; Mar. 29, '65. 
Ephraim P. Faulk, Corp. ; Mar. 29, '65. 
John L. Lehmann, Corp.; Mar. 29, '65. 
John Hancock, Corp.; Mar. 10, '65. 



Ephraim N. Anker, Mar. 23 '65. 
Orrin B. Bolton, Mar. 16, '65. 
John Breatz, Mar. 10, '65. 
William Base, Mar. 9, '65. 
James Buggy, Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry Basin, Mar. 29, '65. 
William Culp, Mar. 9, '65. ^ ^ 
Benjamin Christ, Mar. 9, '65, 
Valentine Clark, Mar. 9, '65. 
Geo. W. Campbell, Mar. 29, '65. 
Christian Deets, Mar. 10, '65. 
Adam Denk, Mar. 9, '65. 
Ambrose Dettery, Mar. 9, '65. 
John Detzler, Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry K. Erdman, Mar. 9, '65. 
William Fogle, Mar. 29, '65. 
Joseph K. Fry, Mar. 16, '65. ^ 
Amos Fanesvvorth, Mar. 9, '65. 
Henry W. Fry, Mar. 9, '65. 
Henry G. Fry, Mar. 9, '65. 
Samuel Fredrick, Mar. 9, '65. 
George K. Fagely, Mar. 29, '65. 
Eli S. Grub, Mar. 23, '65. 
Perry Grubb, Mar. 16, '65. ^ 
Aaron Henninger, Mar. 9, '65. 
Morgan A. Jones, Mar. 10, '65. 
John Jones, Mar. 9, '65. 
George W. Kreiger, Mar. 9, '65. 
Daniel Kashner, Mar. 9, '65. 
George Kramer, Mar. 9, '65. 
Simon Kramer, Mar. 9, '65. 
Charles H. Leibig, Mar. 10, '65. 
George H. Leibig, Mar. 9, '65. 
William Leffee, Mar. 9, '65. 
Amos M. Mitchell, Mar. 16, '65. 
George A. Miller, Mar. 10, '65. 



Thomas Harris, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
Thaddeus S. Ready, Corp. ; Mar. 21, '65. 
John Harris, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
Neil Mclsaac, Corp. ; Mar. 22, '65. 
Daniel Wenrich, Music. ; Mar. 29, '65. 



PRIVATES. 



Christian Miller, Mar. 10. '65. 

Charles Miller, Mar. 10, '65. 

Alexander Mowrer, Mar. 9, '65. 

Ebenezer Matthews, Mar. 9, '65. 

Charles Marks, Mar. 9, '65. 

William Mitchell, Mar. 23, '65. 

John Murray, Mar. 16, '65. 

Samuel McDowell, Mar. 16, '65; deserted 

Mar. 22, '65. 
James Noringer, Mar. 29, '65. 
William Ready, Mar. 21, '65. 
Andrew Rinehart, Mar. 10, '65. 
Edmund Rocke, Mar. 9, '65. 
John Rudisill, Mar. 9, '65. 
John Rocke, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jacob Smink, Mar. 29, '65. 
Christian Snyder, Mar. 29, '65. 
Isaac Sawer, Mar. 16, '65. 
Theodore Salters, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jonathan S. Sharp, Mar. 9, '65. 
Cyrus B. Salters, Mar. 9, '65. 
George Shock, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jacob Shock, Mar. 9, '65. 
Lewis S. Stine, Mar. 9, '65. 
Tillman Shrawder, Mar. 28, '65. 
Edwin O. Treibly, Mar. 10, '65. 
Andrew Tully, Mar. 9. '65. 
William Tharp, Mar. 29, '65. 
Benjamin F. Week, Mar. 16, '65. 
Joseph K. Week, Mar. 16, '65. 
John Weir, Mar. 10, '65. 
Thomas Wright, Mar. 9, '65. 
John Weideihafer, Mar. 29, '65. 
Christian Warner, Mar. 29. '65. 
David E. Wenriche, Mar. 29, '65. 
Jacob Yeager, Mar. 9, '65. 



COMPANY D, 2D. 



Emanuel Herman, Capt. ; Mar. 30, '65. 
Edmund Rutter, 1st Lt. ; Mar. 31, '65 ; disch. 

Mar. 30, '65, to receive pro. as 1st. Lieut. 

in Co. D. „, ,^^ 

Chas. W. P. Collins, 2d Lt; Mar. 31, 65; 

disch. Mar. 30, '65, to receive pro. as 2d 

Lieut. Co. D. 
Jacob H. Smith, 1st Sgt. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
Joseph N. Reed, Sergt. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
William Rhoads. Sergt.; Mar. 24, '65. 
James Shaub, Sergt.; Mar. 24, '65. 
David Hoffman, Sergt. ; Mar. 24, '65. 



Benjamin F. Tyson, Corp.; Mar. 24, '65. 
John A. Beitzel, Corp.; Mar. 29, '65. 
Charles Markle, Corp. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
Aug's F. Gotwalt, Corp.; Mar. 29, '65. 
Cyrus A. Shaub, Corp. ; Mar. 29, '65. 
S. M. Livingston, Corp. ; Mar. 24, '65 ; disch.. 

by G. O. July 11, '65. 
Abraham Hayes, Corp. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
Joseph Soule, Corp.; Mar. 24, '65. 
Francis Tredway, Music. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
Malcolm O. Smith, Music; Mar. 29, '65;: 

disch. by G. O. July 27, '65. 



PRIVATES. 



Henry Arnold, Mar. 24, '65. 
William Arnold, Mar. 29, '65. 
Franklin Bender, Mar. 20, '65. 
August C. Bell, Mar. 29, '65. 
David J. Barnett, Mar. 29, '65. 
Elias Blouse, Mar. 29, '65. 
Reuben Blouse, Mar. 29, '65. 



William L. Bentzel, Mar. 29, '65. 
Leonard Bruder, Mar. 24, '65. 
Isaac Beoker, Mar. 24, '65. 
James R. Blaney, Mar. 24, '65. 
David W. Day, Mar. 24, '65. 
F. Emenheiser, Mar. 24, '65. 
David Ellis, Mar. 29, '65. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 



397 



Samuel Flury, Mar. 24, '65. 
John V. Gemmill, Mar. 24, '65. 
Harris Gingerich, Mar, 24, '65. 
Ephraim Good, Mar. 24, '65. 
Jonathan Gable, Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry Givins, Mar. 24, '65. 
Joseph Grim, Mar. 24, '65. 
David Hoover, Mar. 24, '65. 
Joha'n Hildebrand, Mar. 24, '65. 
Benj. F. Harting, Mar. 29, '65. 
Amos M. Herman, Mar. 24, '65. 
Solomon D. Johnson, Mar. 24, '65. 
Adam King, Mar. 24, '65. 
Benjamin Knaub, Mar. 24, '65. 
Daniel Knaub, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry Krebs, Mar. 24, '65. 
William Kilgore, Mar. 24, '65. 
Israel Kling, Mar. 24, '65. 
Valentine Keizer, Mar. 24, '65. 
Edward A. Keasey, Mar. 24, '65. 
George Kauffman, Mar. 24, '65. 
Jacob Lyman, Mar. 24, '65. 
Joseph Loucks, Mar. 24, '65. 
William Leightner, Mar. 29, '65. 
Joseph Lower, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry Malehom, Mar. 24, '65. 
Levi Malehom, Mar. 24, '65. 
Emanuel Myers, Mar. 29, '65. 
John C. Miller, Mar. 29, '65. 
Joseph A. Murphy, Mar. 29, '65. 



Alexander Monroe, Apr. 3, '65. 
James F. McKinley, Mar. 29, '66 
Noah Ness, Mar. 24, '65. 
C. Overlander, Mar. 24, '65. 
Hugh C. Patterson, Mar. 24, '65. 
Jacob Poat, Mar. 29, '65. 
John Reichart, Mar. 24, '65. 
Samuel Reichart, Mar. 24, '65. 
Samuel Richcreek, Mar. 24, '65. 
Sam'l R. Rinehold, Mar. 24, '65. 
Milton Ray, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry H. Shoff, Mar. 24, '65. 
George Seipe, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry Smith, Mar. 24, '65. 
William E. Smith, Mar. 24, '65. 
John Stephens, Mar. 24, '65. 
William Shultz, Mar. 29, '65. 
John Snyder, Mar. 29, '65. 
James Steward, Mar. 29, '65. 
Henry Trout, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry Tschop, Mar. 24, '65. 
James Taylor, Mar. 24, '65. 
John Taylor, Mar. 29, '65. 
George Wrey, Mar. 29, '65. 
Emanuel Warner, Mar. 24, '65. 
Adam S. Warner, Mar. 24, '65. 
Philip Welty, Mar. 24, '65. 
John Wanghtel, Mar. 24, '65. 
Henry Wilhelm, Mar. 29, '65. 



COMPANY E, 2D. 



De Los Walker, Capt.; Apr. 3, '65. 

Augu's J. Walker, 1st Lt. ; Apr. 3, '65 ; disch. 

Apr. 1, '65, to receive pro. as 1st Lieut. 

Co. E. 
Alanson S. Bates, 2d Lt. ; Apr. 3, '65 ; disch. 

Apr. 1, '65, to receive pro. as 2d Lieut. 

Co. E. 
Cyrus Harper, 1st. Sgt. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
Hugh McGuire, Sergt. ; Mar. 15, '65. 
Lorenzo D. Kelly, Sergt. ; Mar. 8, '65. 



George J. Fish, Sergt. ; Mar. 3, '65. 
John H. Warner, Sergt. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
Ceylon P. Cooper, Corp. ; Mar. 20, '65. 
Isaac W. Sherman, Corp. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
S. Breckenridge, Corp.; Mar. 13, '65. 
E. H. Laughlin, Corp. ; Mar. 6, '65. 
James Mason, Corp.; Mar. 31, '65. 
Isaac Titwiller, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
James A. Bell, Corp. ; Mar. 1, '65. 
Barnes B. Evans, Corp.; Mar. 27, '65. 



PRIVATES. 



Robert Akiey, Mar. 8, '65. 
Win'd S. Armstrong, Mar. 28, '65. 
Henry C. Beeman, Mar. 20, '65. 
Benj. F. Burroughs, Apr. 1, '65. 
Erskine Bemus, Feb. 28, '65. 
Asher Bailey, Mar. 8, '65. 
Lundy Barman, Mar. 3, '65. 
James Barnes, Mar. 22, '65. 
Nelson Black, Mar. 20, '65. 
Alvah Beeman. Mar. 29, '65. 
Alpheus Coburn, Mar. 6, '65. 
Valentine Carnes, Mar. 9, '65. 
John Carrier, Mar. 13. '65. 
Harvey C. Carr, Mar. 15, '65. 
James S. Chase, Mar. 18, '65. 
John Clark, Mar. 24, '65. 
Sam'l Drumheller, Mar. 31, '65. 
Christopher C. Dennis, Mar. 2, '65. 
Joseph L. Dilts, Mar. 6, '65. 
David A. Daniels, Mar. 15, '65. 
James M. Daniels, Mar. 15, '65. 
Jesse Dubs, Mar. 29, '65. 
Amos Eckles, Mar. 8, '65. 
George Fitch, Mar. 22, '65. 



Chester C. C Ford, Feb. 28, '65. 

Edw'd C. Greenfield, Mar. 13, '65. 

John Gordon, Mar. 27. '65. 

John Hope, Mar. 18, '65. 

Jasper Henderson, Feb. 28, '65. 

Wm. Hockenberry, Mar. 1, '65. 

Jesse Huff, Mar. 27, '65. 

Gilbert C. Hamilton, Mar. 28, '65. 

Jesse L. Holloway, Mar. 1, '65; deserted Apr. 
10, '65. 

Thomas C. Jackson, Mar. 3, '65. 

Wm. Kirkwood, Mar. 1, '65. 

Harrison Kirkwood, Mar. 1, '65. 

Wm. Kohler, Mar. 23, '65. 

Authilla Karns, Mar. 9, '65. 

George Lewis, Mar. 30, '65. 

John P. Leiphart. Mar. 15, '65. 

John C. Leech, Mar 20, '65. 

John G. Lvons, Mar. 27, '65; died at Harris- 
burg, Pa., Apr. 27, '65. 

James McBryer, Mar. 28. '65. 

Absolom McClane, Mar. 27, '65. 
Jacob P. McCasland, Mar. 27, '65. 

David McDonnell, Mar. 22, '65. 



398 



103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 



Thomas Mill, Mar. 1, '65. 

Wm. J. Nece, Mar. 6, '65. 

Caleb R. Norton, Mar. 16, '65. 

William Nelson, Feb. 25, '65 ; deserted, date 

not given. 
Robert O'Connor, Mar. 10, '65; deserted, date 

not given. 
James A. Piatt, Mar. 1, '65. 
John H. Pick, Mar. 7, '65. 
Albert Perkins, Mar. 13, '65. 
William Park, Mar. 28, '65. 
George Paulman, Feb. 25, '65; deserted, date 

not given. 
James Quinn, Feb. 25, '65. 
William F. Rice, Feb. 22, '65; absent sick at 

must. out. 



George W. Roff, Mar. 7, '65. 

Peter Sherman, Mar. 27, '65. 

Leon Switzer, Mar. 27, '65. 

William Sankey, Mar. 1, '65. 

William Swager, Mar. 7, '65. 

Henry C Storey, Mar. 7, '65. 

John StaufFer, Mar. 27, '65; absent sick at 

must. out. 
Henderson Scott, Mar. 27, '65. 
Crispin, Saddon, Mar. 31, '65. 
Henry B. Wiser, Mar. 9, '65. 
Robert F. Whipple, Mar. 15, '65. 
William H. Wilson, Mar. 27. '65. 
Samuel Wilson, Mar. 28, '65. 
John M. Young, Mar. 27, '65. 



COMPANY F, 2D. 



Cyrus Thomas, Capt. ; Apr. 5, '65. 
Caleb M. Row, 1st. Lt. ; Apr. 5, '65. 
Solomon A. Bryan, 2d Lt. ; Apr. 5, '65; disch. 

Apr. 4, '65, to receive pro. as 2d Lieut. 

Co. F. 
Frankhn B. Boyls, 1st Sgt. ; Mar. 18, '65. 
Gabriel B. Potts, Sergt. ; Mar. 24, '65. 
Oliver B. Robertson, Sergt.; Mar. 20, '65. 
William T. Russell, Sergt. ; Mar. 31, '65. 
Jesse W. Anderson, Sergt.; Mar. 20, '65. 



S. W. McMichael, Corp. ; Mar. 27, '65. 
John Harman, Corp. ; Mar. 31, '65. 
Robert C. Hurst, Corp. ; Mar. 30, '65. 
Francis Andrews, Corp. ; Mar. 30, '65. 
Simon Eisaman, Corp. ; Mar. 27, '65. 
Alexander Snow, Corp.; Mar. 17, '65. 
John Shirey, Corp. ; Mar. 17, '65. 
John F. Earnest, Corp.; Mar. 21, '65. 
Harrison Reagen, Music. ; Mar. 20, '65. 
Alexander Kimmel, Music; Mar. 20, '65. 



PRIVATES. 



John Albing, Mar. 17, '65. 

William Abig, Mar. 17, '65. 

John Anderson, Mar. 17, '65. 

Abraham Albert, Mar. 31, '65. 

Abraham F. Barr, Mar. 23, '65. 

John F. Buttermon,. Mar. 27, '65. 

Jeremiah J. Baker, Mar. 27, '65. 

Daniel C. Baker, Mar. 29, '65. 

Emanuel Barr, Mar. 28, '65. 

John A. Baker, Mar. 29, '65. 

George Crise, Mar. 27, '65. 

Abadiah Eisaman, Mar. 27, '65. 

Silas M. Frv, Apr. 3, '65. 

Andrew B. Findlev, Mar. 20, '65. 

David Z. Frick, Mar. 17, '65. 

Samuel T. Fry, Mar. 22, '65. 

Joseph Francy, Mar. 27, '65. 

Charles F. Foss, Mar. 17, '65. 

Simon Feitner, Mar. 18, '65. 

Jefferson Freeman, Mar. 31, '65. 

Andrew J. Gallaher, Mar. 19, '65. 

Josiah R. Hough, Mar. 16. '65. 

John Huffer, Mar. 26, '65. 

Simon Hensel, Mar. 23, '65. 

Leonard Henrv, Mar. 24, '65. 

Abel Hewitt, Mar. 24, '65. 

John J. Hile, Mar. 8, '65; disch. by G. 0., 

May 15, '65. 
Revel Hays, Mar. 31, '65. 
Erwin Hays. Mar. 31, '65. 
Samuel G. Hensel, Mar. 31, '65. 
William C. Hanna, Mar. 24, '65. 
Emanuel Kuhns, Apr. 3, '65. 
George A. Keener, Apr. 3, '65. 
Samuel Keller, Apr. 20, '65. 
Eli Kelly, Apr. 24, '65. 
John Kayne, Apr. 27, '65. 
M. B. Kettering, Apr. 28, '65. 



Henry Lane, Apr. 20, '65. 
Henry Lowe, Apr. 24, '65. 
. John Leasure, Apr. 24, '65. 
Benj. F. Laufer, Apr. 28, '65. 
Thomas B. May, Mar. 31, '65. 
Benj. F. May, Mar. 31, '65. 
George Moyers, Mar. 24, '65. 
Albert McHenry, Apr. 3, '65. 
Joseph McNelley, Mar. 30, '65. 
Samuel McMichael, Mar. 31, '65. 
Benj. A. McBryer, Mar. 28, '65. 
Michael Porteger, Mar. 24, '65. 
Levi Potts, Mar. 24, '65. 
George B. Porch, Apr. 3, '65. 
William H. Ruff, Mar. 24, '65. 
John B. Reynolds, Mar. 17, '65. 
Jacob S. Rayger, Mar. 17, '65. 
John Rough, Mar. 17, '65. 
Cvrus P. M. Riley, Mar. 20, '65. 
Eli Roadman, Mar. 31, '65. 
Daniel Reynolds, Mar. 27, '65. 
Michael Swarts, Mar. 20, '65. 
David Shirey, Mar. 17, '65. 
John B. Sample, Mar. 17, '65. 
Israel B. Shuster, Mar. 18, '65. 
Eli Stairs, Mar. 31, '65. 
David Sheets, Mar. 31, '65. 
William Sible, Mar. 31, '65. 
Samuel Shiebler, Mar. 27, '65. 
Franklin Smith, Mar. 25, J65. 
John Sherrow, Mar. 8, '65. 
Sherrow, Josiah, Mar. 28, '65. 
Simon G. Shiebler, Mar. 29, '65. 
Daniel Smeltzer, Apr. 3, '65. 
Henry Sheets, Apr. 3, '65. 
George H. Thomas, Mar. 31, '65. 
Alexander Tarr, Mar. 27, '65. 
Barnett Thomas, Mar. 27, '65. 



REGIMENTAL ROSTER 



399 



John L. Weaver, Mar. 27, '65. 
Henry Wilks, Mar. 17, '65. 
Andrew J. Wilson, Mar. 18, '65. 
Frederick F. Wolf, Mar. 27, '65. 



Alex. C. Walker, Mar. 28, '65. 
John Wilkins, Mar. 28, '65. 
J. F. Zimmerman, Mar. 24, '65. 



COMPANY G, 2D. 



C. A. Harper, Capt.; Apr. 12, '65. 
Samuel S. Matthews, 1st.; Apr. 12, '65. 
Daniel Y. Lenker, 2d Lt. ; Apr. 12, '65 ; disch. 

Apr. 11, '65, for pro. as 2d Lieut. Co. G. 
Benj. F. Miller, Sergt. ; Mar. 29, '65. 
Edwin A. Hoffman, Sergt; Mar. 14, '65. 
Obed J. Reigle, Sergt; Mar. 9, '65. 
Francis S. Feindt, Sergt.; Mar. 27, '65. 
John Townsend, Sergt.; Mar. 16, '65. 



Jacob B. Lehman, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
Simon Bliler, Corp. ; Mar. 14, '65. 
John Rumberger, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
Henry W. Snyder, Corp. ; Mar. 14, '65. 
Cyrus F. Ferree, Corp. Apr. 11, '65. 
George S. Loucks, Corp. ; Apr. 6, '65. 
Ben. R. Foster, Corp.; Mar. 10, '65. 
Henry Ferree, Corp.; Mar. 14, '65. 



George Anthony, Apr. 11, '65. 
Joseph Buffington, Apr. 6, '65. 
Ernst Buhler, Apr. 11, '65. 
John Bellon, Mar. 14, '65. 
James G. Bateman, Mar. 27, '65. 
Albert Dennis, Mar. 27, '65. 
George Deibler, Mar. 14, '65. 
George D. Eby, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jeremiah Fry, Apr. 6, '65. 
Jared Fisher, Mar. 14, '65. 
Michael Fetterhoff, Mar. 9, '65. 
Samuel Forney, Mar. 9, '65; bur. rec, 

at Harrisburg, Pa., July 10, '65. 
Leo Gladfelter, Apr. 12, '65. 
Adam F. Geesey, Apr. 13, '65. 
Edwin D. Geesey, Apr. 11, '65. 
Franklin Geesey, Apr. 11, '65. 
John Greiner, Mar. 9, '65. 
Andrew W. Greiner, Mar. 9, '65. 
Melvin Gohn, Apr. 12, '65. 
Jacob Hininger, Apr. 6, '65. 
Jeremiah Hartman, Apr. 12, '65. 
Isaac Hildebrand, Apr. 12, '65. 
Jonathan Hoober, Apr. 6, '65. 
James Hunter, Apr. 11, '65. 
James B. Heim, Apr. 11, '65. 
Henrv H. Harman, Mar. 20, '65. 
John 'W. Hoffman, Mar. 14, '65. 
Benawell Hand, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jonas W. Hoffman, Mar. 9, '65. 
Levi W. Hake, Apr. 12, '65. 
Edwin Inness, Apr. 11, '65. 
Adam Kohler, Apr. 12, '65. 
George E. Kehres. Mar. 31,_'65. 
Joseph Kramer, Mar. 14, '65. 
Isaac Koppenhafer, Mar. 9, '65. 
Lewis Kniley, Mar. 9, '65. 
Josiah Leber, Apr. 11, '65. 



PRIVATES. 

Christian Lower, Mar. 31, '65. 
C. H. Laudenschlager, Mar. 14, '65. 
John Y. Lenker, Mar. 9, '65. 
Marcus S. Light, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jacob Minnich, Apr. 12, '65. 
John G. Mark, Apr. 7, '65. 
George Minier, Apr. 6, '65. 
Philip McKinney, Mar. 14, '65. 
John C. McCallion, Apr. 12, '65. 
John W. Orndorf, Mar. 27, '65. 
Simon Richard, Apr. 6, '65. 
died David Riddle, Apr. 12, '65. 

Josiah R. Reigel, Mar. 14, '65. 

Henry Rickert, Mar. 14, '65. 

Jacob Rumberger, Mar. 4, '65. 

Benj. Rickert, Mar. 14, '65. 

Harrison Reigel, Mar. 14, '65. 

Michael Reiley, Apr. 12, '65. 

Jeremiah Stump, Apr. 6, '65; disch. by G. O. 

May 15, '65. 
Jeremiah Snyder, Apr. 6, '65. 
William Saul, Apr. 11, '65. 
Henry Shermeyer, Apr. 11, '65. 
Franklin P. Startzle, Apr. 6, '65. 
George Spangler, Mar. 27, '65. 
Jacob Shiro, Mar. 14, '65 
Isaac Sitlinger, Mar. 14, '65. 
Jacob S. Snyder, Mar. 9, '65. 
Henry Shoop, Mar. 9, '65. 
Gottlieb Spoerl, Mar. 9, '65. 
Robert A. Thompson, Apr. 11, '65. 
Hiram Wilt, Mar. 20, '65. 
Edward Walters, Mar. 27, '65. 
Jacob Williard, Mar. 14, '65. 
John Williard, Mar. 14, '65. 
Henry Williard, Mar. 14, '65. 
Dan'l Zimmerman, Mar. 9, '65. 
Jno. H. Zimmerman, Mar. 9, '65. 



COMPANY H, 2D. 



Jas. W. Dougherty, Capt; Apr. 12, '65. 
Joseph D. Davis, 1st. Lt, Apr. 12, '65. 
Robert Carson, 2d Lt. ; Apr. 18, '65; disch. 
Apr. 17, '65, for pro. as 2d Lieut Co. H. 
Andrew M. Duncan, 1st Sergt. ; Apr. 1, '65. 
Franklin P. Barr, Sergt.; Mar. 10, '65. 
Jackson Abbott, Sergt. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
James A. Black, Sergt.; Mar. 11, '65. 
William Barr, Sergt.; Mar. 11, '65. 



Solomon Hamer, Corp. ; Mar. 9, '65. 
Wilham H. Barton, Sergt.; Mar. 11, '65. 
Wm. M. Murford, Sergt. ; Apr. 3, '65. 
Geo. R. McElhany, Corp. ; Apr. 3, '65. 
William Stiffler, Corp.; Mar. 11. '65. 
William Lee, Corp. ; Mar. 16, '65. 
S. W. Hendrickson, Corp.; Mar. 22, '65. 
John M. Brink, Corp. ; Mar. 31, '65. 



400 



103D PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT 



Henry A. Awrand, Mar. 10, '65. 
Thomas A. Beyer, Mar. 31, '65. 
Alexander M. Berkley, Mar. 22, '65. 
J. W. Baughman, Mar. 11, '65. 
Loren'o Baughman, Mar. 11, '65. 
H. C. Brumhaugh, Mar. 10, '65. 
David Brown, Mar. 8, '65. 
I. C. Brumbaugh, Mar. 18, '65. 
Thomas Bradley, Mar. 4, '65. 
Samuel Clawson, Mar. 29, '65. 
William Carson, Mar. 31, '65. 
Thomas Cherry, Mar. 31, '65. 
James B. Dunlap, Apr. 3, '65. 
F. Dittenheifer, Mar. 29, '65. 
Wm. W. Dunkle, Mar. 29, '65. 
Simon H. Drenning, Mar. 31, '65. 
John A. Davidson, Mar. 31, '65. 
Ira F. Davis, Mar. 8, '65. 
Abraham Eaton, Apr. 5, '65. 
Amos G. Ealy, Mar. 10, '65. 
Jesse Ferrier, Mar. 31, '65. 
James Flickinger, Mar. 22, '65. 
David H. Grove, Mar. 6, '65. 
George Garralt, Mar. 31, '65. 
Luman Gilbert Mar. 22, '65. 
Daviid G. Griffith, Mar. 7, '65. 
George W. Hill, Apr. 3, '65. 
John D. Hiner, Mar. 22, '65. 
Guy Hilliard, Mar. 11, '65. 
David Hamilton, Mar. 11, '65. 
Samuel Isaat, Mar. 31, '65. 
Ephraim A. Irwin, Mar. 31, '65. 
John Kerr, Mar. 31. '65. 
William F. Kelley, Mar. 8, '65. 
William Kline, Mar. 3, '65. 
Jesse M. Lindsey, Mar. 11, '65. 



Jeremiah Lavely, Mar. 8, '65. 
Abraham Lowry, Mar. 16, '65. 
George A. Miller, Mar. 9, '65. 
Chamb's M. Mitchell, Mar. 16, '65. 
David Murray, - Mar. 4, '65. 
John Mclntire, Apr. 3, '65. 
Robert P. McGee, Mar. 22, '65. 
Elijah McKisson, Mar. 22. '65. 
Wm. McConnell, Mar. 9, '65. 
Watson McNally, Mar. 16, '65. 
Wm. McDade, Mar. 16. '65. 
Jacob Nail, Mar. 11, '65. 
Charles Nole, Mar. 3, '65. 
Burton Pontius, Mar. 31, '65. 
Seth C. Parson, Mar. 10, '65. 
John W. Rhom, Apr. 3, '65. 
James B. Reynolds, Apr. 6, '65. 
Alexander E. Ray, Mar. 22, '65. 
Jacob Rittenhour, Mar. 16, '65. 
Oliver Shefler, Apr. 2, '65. 
Samuel St. Qair, Mar. 29, '65. 
Andrew Still, Mar. 22, '65. 
Thomas Shaw, Mar. 8, '65. 
George H. Shimmel, Mar. 8, '65. 
William Steely, Mar. 16, '65. 
W. E. Williamson, Mar. 31, '65. 
James S. Weston, Mar. 31. '65. 
Augus's H. Warren, Mar. 31, '65. 
Jesse J. Williamson, Mar. 31, '65 
Jonathan Womer, Mar. 10, '6a 
William Womer, Mar. 10, '65. 
Joseph Womer, Mar. 10, '65. 
Morris D. Weber, Mar. 9, '65. 
Richard Young, Mar. 10, '65. 
Daniel S. Yingling; Mar. 29, '65. 



UNASSIGNED MEN. 

The following privates were credited to the 103d Regiment. The date of muster into 
the service was given in the records but with the exception of Private James Aceret, they 
are not accounted for, and never reported to the Regiment for duty. 



James Aceret, Jan. 16, '64; for 3 yrs. ; disch. 

by G. O., May 23, '65; Vet. 
William Agen, Aug. 24. '63 ; for 3 yrs. 
Franklin S. Beamer, Feb. 22, '65. 
David H. Creighton, Mar. 6, '65. 
John A. Carsner, Mar. 1, '65. 
Joel Ebaugh, Feb. 22, '65. 
Samuel Fitz, Feb. 27, '65. 
John Gibvery, Mar. 22, '65. 
Christ. G. Goshert, Mar. 1, '65. 
Theodore Hooner, Feb. 22. '65. 
Adam Harget, Feb. 22, '65. 
George Hess, Mar. 8, '65. 



Michael Howlett, Mar. 8, '65. 
Henry H. Hoffman, Mar. 8, '65. 
Jacob Lohr, Feb. 22, '65. 
Cornelius Mathias, Feb. 22, '65. 
Isaac Myers, Feb. 22, '65. 
Jacob Miller, Feb. 22, '65. 
Burns Myers, Mar. 8, '65. 
William McGuire, Mar. 8, '65. 
George F. Oliver, Feb. 25, '65. 
Lewis Overdeer, Feb. 22, '65. 
W. A. M. Renfrew, Feb. 27, '65. 
William D. Steane, Mar. 8, '65. 




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